Our Journey to Food Safety Leadership | Our Journey to Food Safety Leadership

Over the past few weeks government agencies in the U.S. and Canada have been investigating possible Salmonella contamination of Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP), an ingredient used as a flavour enhancer  used in a wide array of commercially-prepared foods, such as chips, soups, dips, salad dressings, sauces, frozen dinners and snack foods.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) are conducting investigations and following the situation closely.  There have been no reports of any confirmed illnesses in Canada or the U.S. linked to the food products containing HVP and the risk is considered to be very low.

The complete list of recalled products is available on the CFIA’s food safety portal at www.foodsafety.gc.ca or the FDA’s website at www.foodsafety.gov. If you have any of the recalled products in your home, you should not eat them.  You should check the sites regularly since it is expected that more products may be recalled as a result of the ongoing investigations.

The products that are being recalled are ready-to-eat products that contain the affected HVP ingredient and have not been subject to a  heat treatment or other process that would effectively eliminate the Salmonella.

No Maple Leaf products have been recalled, however we are closely monitoring the situation.  We are taking all measures necessary to continue to ensure the safety of our products.   

It is important to note that both the CFIA and FDA have advised that certain products  that contain the affected HVP do not represent a food safety risk and are not subject to the recall.  This includes:

• ready-to-eat foods where HVP may be added as an ingredient and which have been made using processes that would effectively eliminate Salmonella, such asnormal cooking practices
• ready-to-cook products that consumers cook or reheat at home after they buy them areunlikely to pose a risk providing the product is prepared at temperatures stated in the validated cooking instructions provided on the packaging. Thesecooking instructions shouldprovideinstructions thatensures the product reaches temperaturesthat effectively eliminate Salmonella.

Following safe food handling practices and maintaining proper refrigeration temperatures are critical to minimizing the risk associated with the presence of Salmonella in raw meats.  Thoroughly cooking product to the recommended internal temperature, for example 165ºF/74ºC in poultry products, effectively eliminates Salmonella.

Recently I met with the team at Deloitte Canada to offer some perspectives for a research report called Safe to move.  The report examines the issue of food safety and provides a comprehensive approach to help companies achieve their business objectives and manage food safety risks.

 Food safety can be a complex issue  and there are no ”silver bullets”  to solving all the challenges that food manufacturers face but this report provides solid recommendations of what all the players need to do to assess, build and monitor an effective food safety program.  

Click here to listen to the Deloitte Canada podcast.

Our Food Safety Vision is to provide consumers safe, great tasting food produced in a safe environment.  The foundation of this is building and maintaining a strong food safety culture, which requires strong leadership.  To this end we are delighted to announce the immediate appointment of Sharon Beals as the new Senior Vice President, Food Safety and Quality Assurance.

In this role, Sharon will be responsible for the continuous development and implementation of Food Safety, Regulatory and Quality Assurance initiatives, including mandatory common systems, compliance, technology development, and audit across all fresh and processed  meat and poultry plants at Maple Leaf Consumer Foods.

With a Bachelor of Science (Nutrition and Food Science) from Cornell University, Sharon brings over 25 years of experience in Food Safety, Regulatory, Quality Assurance and Process Development.  The scope of this experience encompasses crisis management, government relations, HACCP, SPC, lab services, QA and food safety systems. 

In her most recent position as Vice President of Technical Services at Smithfield Packing, Sharon was responsible for Food Safety, Regulatory Compliance, Research and Development, Product Innovation, Quality Assurance, Laboratories and Corporate Sanitation across all facilities.  Prior to this role, Sharon garnered senior food safety expertise at Tyson Foods, Orval Kent Food Company, Arby’s Inc  and Land O’Frost.

Welcome Sharon we are pleased to have you join the team.