Canada Links a 3rd Death to Bacteria
Canada Links a 3rd Death to Bacteria
OTTAWA — Canadian health officials, coping with a national outbreak of a bacterial illness, confirmed a third death on Friday apparently linked to tainted cold cuts from Canada’s largest meat processor.
The bacterial illness, listeriosis, is often fatal to the elderly, the infirm and those with weak immune systems. The three deaths were all elderly women in Ontario.
The meat processor, Maple Leaf Foods, this week recalled more than 1.2 million pounds of lunch meats produced in its Toronto plant. Tests have confirmed 17 cases of listeriosis throughout Canada, including the three fatalities. Another 16 possible cases are under investigation.
The outbreak came as Canada’s Conservative government was considering a controversial plan to transfer all or some of the responsibility for food inspection to the food industry.
Health authorities informed Maple Leaf last Saturday that government laboratories had detected Listeria monocytogenes, the bacteria that causes the illness, in two lunch meats that Maple Leaf sells to restaurants and commercial kitchens. Maple Leaf recalled those products on Tuesday and later expanded the recall to another 19 products made on the same production lines in its Toronto plant, one of 21 that the company owns.
A Maple Leaf spokeswoman, Linda Smith, said that none of the production from the Toronto plant was exported to the United States. Lola Russell, speaking for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said there had been no known cases of listeriosis in the United States.
Tests to tie the bacteria in the lunch meats definitively to the deaths and illnesses are under way, but not yet complete. “While we have no positive test for these products, we felt we should take action,” Ms. Smith said.
Listeriosis is particularly dangerous because the bacteria that causes it can remain active even in meats, dairy products, fish and vegetables that are properly handled and refrigerated. Foods may be contaminated even though they do not appear or smell spoiled.
Symptoms of the disease include nausea, gastrointestinal discomfort, vomiting, persistent headaches and fever. Severe cases can lead to brain infections or death.
The Maple Leaf plant in Toronto was closed earlier this week and has undergone three sterilizations supervised by a microbiologist, Ms. Smith said. This weekend its interior will be sealed and filled with an antibacterial aerosol in preparation for a reopening on Monday, she said.
The majority of the confirmed cases of the illness have been in Ontario. Most of the patients, public health officials said, were elderly residents of long-term care facilities.
Dalton McGuinty, the premier of Ontario, said the outbreak had been detected by the extensive disease monitoring and control systems that were introduced after an outbreak of SARS in the Toronto area in 2003.
Ms. Smith said that “virtually all” of the meat in the recall has been returned to Maple Leaf or retailers.
OTTAWA — Canadian health officials, coping with a national outbreak of a bacterial illness, confirmed a third death on Friday apparently linked to tainted cold cuts from Canada’s largest meat processor.
The bacterial illness, listeriosis, is often fatal to the elderly, the infirm and those with weak immune systems. The three deaths were all elderly women in Ontario.
The meat processor, Maple Leaf Foods, this week recalled more than 1.2 million pounds of lunch meats produced in its Toronto plant. Tests have confirmed 17 cases of listeriosis throughout Canada, including the three fatalities. Another 16 possible cases are under investigation.
The outbreak came as Canada’s Conservative government was considering a controversial plan to transfer all or some of the responsibility for food inspection to the food industry.
Health authorities informed Maple Leaf last Saturday that government laboratories had detected Listeria monocytogenes, the bacteria that causes the illness, in two lunch meats that Maple Leaf sells to restaurants and commercial kitchens. Maple Leaf recalled those products on Tuesday and later expanded the recall to another 19 products made on the same production lines in its Toronto plant, one of 21 that the company owns.
A Maple Leaf spokeswoman, Linda Smith, said that none of the production from the Toronto plant was exported to the United States. Lola Russell, speaking for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said there had been no known cases of listeriosis in the United States.
Tests to tie the bacteria in the lunch meats definitively to the deaths and illnesses are under way, but not yet complete. “While we have no positive test for these products, we felt we should take action,” Ms. Smith said.
Listeriosis is particularly dangerous because the bacteria that causes it can remain active even in meats, dairy products, fish and vegetables that are properly handled and refrigerated. Foods may be contaminated even though they do not appear or smell spoiled.
Symptoms of the disease include nausea, gastrointestinal discomfort, vomiting, persistent headaches and fever. Severe cases can lead to brain infections or death.
The Maple Leaf plant in Toronto was closed earlier this week and has undergone three sterilizations supervised by a microbiologist, Ms. Smith said. This weekend its interior will be sealed and filled with an antibacterial aerosol in preparation for a reopening on Monday, she said.
The majority of the confirmed cases of the illness have been in Ontario. Most of the patients, public health officials said, were elderly residents of long-term care facilities.
Dalton McGuinty, the premier of Ontario, said the outbreak had been detected by the extensive disease monitoring and control systems that were introduced after an outbreak of SARS in the Toronto area in 2003.
Ms. Smith said that “virtually all” of the meat in the recall has been returned to Maple Leaf or retailers.
posted by sarfunnisha @ 2:07 AM
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