Canada Maple Leaf Listeria report lays bare food safety flaws

Report suggests something is going wrong in CFIA

· Maple Leaf,thought the Listeria monocytogenes problems detected at its Toronto plant in 2007 and 2008 were under control and failed to follow its own Listeria policy.

• · The company didn’t initially report “repeated occurrences of Listeria” because they were not required to do so under federal law.
• · The Compliance Verification System developed by the (CFIA) was highlighted as needing “critical improvements” as it did not require inspectors to ask for or examine listeria tests carried out by companies.
• · A shortage of inspectors was also identified.
• · Senior officials in Ontario, who were initially responsible for dealing with the outbreak, took three weeks to realize the seriousness of the issue, leading to a “void in leadership in managing the crisis”.
• · The report pin-pointed a lack of urgency to the outbreak as a major problem, including Maple Leaf’s failure to raise the alarm or provide product distribution records.
• · The country’s Public Health Agency delayed in identifying the situation as a public health emergency.
• · Consumers were left in the dark with information from governments and health bodies failing “to provide the public with what they needed”.
• · Federal communications were “slow off the mark” and ceased too quickly.

Aporte: Alejandra Lavín

Fuente: www.foodproductiondaily.com