News

The processing plant at the centre of the tainted-meat outbreak held off from reopening as the federal government confirmed last night the listeria outbreak that has killed six and is suspected in the deaths of six others is still not contained.

Maple Leaf Foods said it has not been able to pinpoint exactly how the contamination took place, but said it is confident the problem was isolated to one Toronto plant and none of its other 22 processing plants nationwide were affected.

Company officials had earlier said they hoped to reopen the plant today. But with an expansion of the recall order to include all 220 products made at the Toronto plant, the crisis spread to the food industry in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where a supplier for Safeway and Mac's Convenience stores stopped delivery of products as a precaution.

As the death toll rises, the government is facing growing accusations of a lack of leadership. With Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Arctic and Health Minister Tony Clement at the Democratic convention in Denver, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has been managing the issue in Ottawa.

Yesterday, Mr. Ritz and his officials referred all requests for details about the Canadians affected by the outbreak to provincial and local health authorities.

Calgary-based Lucerne Foods announced a recall yesterday of several of its sandwiches that contained meat products that were included in Maple Leaf's third recall in seven days. The company withdrew 12 kinds of sandwiches that had been distributed to Safeway stores in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and 15 that were distributed in Mac's Convenience stores across Alberta.

"This is a very serious food-safety concern, but everyone has acted very quickly in our company, so we've done everything we can to mitigate any of the problem," said David Ryzebol, vice-president of public affairs for Canada Safeway Ltd., of which Lucerne is a subsidiary.

The Lucerne recall was issued after a similar, but smaller, recall in Toronto this past weekend. Toronto meats manufacturer Royal Touch Foods recalled its Shopsy's Reuben sandwich because it contained meat named in Maple Leaf's recall.

In separate statements released Tuesday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced that two distributors, Atlantic Prepared Foods Limited and Metro Ontario Inc. were voluntarily recalling sandwiches that may contain some of the Maple Leaf meat products.

Atlantic recalled Irving, Sub Delicious and Needs brand sandwiches, sold throughout New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. Metro Ontario removed three sandwiches from its Fresh 2 Go brand from selected A & P and Dominion locations across the province.

But despite the national scope of the outbreak, Maple Leaf is confident that the air-borne bacterium is isolated in its Toronto plant, where it is believed to have originated on the ninth of 11 production lines, a company spokeswoman said.

"There is no evidence of any kind pointing to any other facility," Linda Smith said.

Maple Leaf had said that only its Sure Slice roast beef and corned beef had tested positive for listeria, and that recalling the other products, used by companies such as Mr. Sub, McDonald's and food-supply companies across the country, was a precautionary measure.

But yesterday, Ms. Smith said that further testing by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency revealed that there were 19 positive tests among the Sure Slice roast beef, corned beef, Black Forest ham and turkey.

None of the other dozens of products produced at the plant have tested positive, however.

And Maple Leaf stood by its decision to issue the series of recalls, as it found out more information about its tainted meat, rather than recalling everything at once last week.

Ms. Smith said the first recall, on Aug. 17, was only for Sure Slice roast beef and corned beef because only the roast beef had tested positive for listeria. The company learned late on the night of Aug. 19 that both the roast beef and corned beef were found in further tests to be positive for listeria.

The next morning, the company recalled more than 20 other meats because they had been produced on production lines 8 and 9, where the tainted meat came from. It also shut down the plant.

Over the weekend, health officials confirmed the link between the listeria outbreak across the country and the meat from Maple Leaf's plant. Maple Leaf then recalled every product from the plant, at a cost of $20-million.

"The third recall we looked at and said, 'Okay, have we done everything we can for the consumer? Have we done everything we can for the public?' And we recalled everything from that plant from January on."

Story continues below

The number of deaths linked to the outbreak spiked yesterday because officials broadened the definition of listeriosis-related deaths. Officials say they are now including those who died with listeria in their system, even if it is not the confirmed cause of death.

Officials say the expanded definition was decided on to help them with their investigations.

At a briefing in Ottawa, officials reported 26 confirmed listeria-outbreak strain cases, including 12 deaths. Eleven of those deaths are in Ontario and one in B.C. Of the 11 deaths in Ontario, listeria have been an underlying or contributing factor in six cases. Five are still under investigation.

"The one in B.C. is still a little bit controversial," said Mark Raizenne, director-general of the Public Health Agency of Canada. "It's considered having contributed to the death."

Also at the briefing, Mr. Ritz and federal officials said that when the Maple Leaf plant in Toronto reopens, it will be subjected to new rules.

CFIA officials said they will decide when the plant can reopen, and that Maple Leaf will have to comply with a 100-per-cent "test and hold" policy.

That means that all meat must be tested and cleared for listeria before it leaves the plant. Officials also said the test for listeria can take several days.

The Toronto plant, closed since last Thursday, will not open for at least another day as the company continues working on new protocols.

"We're not ready," Ms. Smith said.

With a file from The Canadian Press

Typical listeria infection cycles

Listerium monocytogenes is a bacterium that can cause the disease listeriosis. It is often found in soil, vegetation, animal feed and feces.

HUMAN CYCLE

Vegetables contaminated by soil or manure

Oral infection of human

Infected human feces

ANIMAL CYCLE

Contaminated manure unwittingly used to fertilize fields

Oral infection of animals fed silage (a fermented fodder usually made from grass crops in which the bacteria can thrive)

Infected animals can contaminate meat and shed bacteria in their feces

LISTERIOSIS HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH FOODS SUCH AS RAW MILK, PASTEURIZED MILK, CHEESES (ESPECIALLY SOFT), ICE CREAM, RAW VEGETABLES, RAW MEATS, RAW AND COOKED POULTRY AND SMOKED FISH.

NINIAN CARTER/THE GLOBE AND MAIL; SOURCES: AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION; THE CANADIAN PRESS