There is a heightened awareness of food safety and Listeria with the Siena Foods recall and link to listeriosis illnesses in Ontario. Health Departments are more vigilant and better equipped to track and identify food-borne illnesses like listeriosis, and stronger government regulations implemented over a year ago require a lot more testing, which helps track the source of a problem when it occurs. These improvements mean safer food, and also mean there’s a lot more awareness and action when there is a problem.

We at Maple Leaf Foods do not have many of the facts about the current recall and outbreak investigation at Siena Foods, as they are not affiliated with our company, but we do have a deep understanding of the food safety changes that have occurred broadly within the industry and with government over the last 18 months.

People would be wrong to take from this that the industry hasn’t changed as a result of what went wrong at Maple Leaf Foods after the listeriosis outbreak that caused the death of 22 people. Tough new regulations were put in place. Food companies have had to come up a learning curve very quickly. We aren’t where we want to be, but we are better than we were. Government needs to make sure that the regulations are strictly enforced, and that we have enough inspectors, with the right skills, to accomplish this.

For our part, Maple Leaf made a deep commitment to becoming a global leader in food safety as a result of what occurred in August, 2008 and the Listeriosis illnesses and tragic deaths that were linked to our products. 

You have read on this blog and in other news from our company how our processes, systems, people and technologies have changed to ensure that an event such as what happened in August 2008 will not happen again. Here’s some of the changes we have made…

Transparency: every day there is a senior management team meeting to discuss Listeria environmental testing results from the previous day from every one of our 26 ready to eat (RTE) facilities. We probe any positive test results and implement quarantine procedures immediately if there is a positive on a food contact surface.

Testing: our environmental testing program is one of the more aggressive surveillance testing plans. We generated over 125,000 routine Listeria test results for our facilities in 2009, over twice what would be required by regulations for our facilities. The current percentage positive rate is less than 0.5%, which is consistent with best practice in North American meat plants.   In addition to routine environmental Listeria testing, our teams conduct thousands of investigative microbiological tests annually to gain a better understanding of our process.

Training: we have trained our people on our new food safety procedures and raised their awareness and understanding of their role in producing food safely. We have recently launched a new adult learning interactive training device being piloted in 5 plants that will allow managers and line supervisors to deliver food safety to front line employees in an interactive learning setting.

Producing Safer Food:  we are adding simple ingredients to our prepared meat products that have been scientifically proven to prevent listeria growth. Their scientific names are potassium lactate and sodium diacetate, and result from the natural fermentation of renewable food sources like corn. 

Meeting Global Standards:  we have begun a process to have all of our 76 processing facilities certified by an independent third party to food safety standards that have been set by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). We want to be measured against the best in the world… and meet this standard.

 Sharing What We Learn: Maple Leaf has committed to openly sharing what we’ve learned, how we’re changing and global best practices with others in the industry. In the fall of 2009 we held our first annual Food Safety Symposium with over 100 participants including competitors, government and scientists. In 2010 our theme is the role of the Global Food Safety Initiative in supporting safe food.

The entire industry is impacted when the safety of our food supply is questioned. Even though Siena Foods is a competitor, we are taking this latest Listeria issue very seriously, including an open offer to share our learnings with them. The latest listeriosis cases in Ontario absolutely reaffirm the need to stay vigilant, for the Canadian government to strongly enforce the tough regulations they have put in place, and for food companies to implement best practices, share our learning, and continue to raise standards across the industry.

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.