Media caravan still rolling on listeriosis

How safe is Canadian food? : This week in Maclean's

TORONTO, Oct. 30 /CNW/ - Frances Clark was an active, vibrant and much-loved 89-year-old, when she suddenly contracted listeriosis, was hospitalized and died. Soon, lab tests revealed dangerously high levels of listeria monocytogenes in some Maple Leaf Foods products, which were then recalled. But it was too late for Clark and the 19 other individuals who were killed by the powerful pathogen.

 Canadians expect their food to be safe: How could something like this happen? In the weeks that followed the Maple Leaf listeria crisis, it became alarmingly clear that assuring the safety of food products, even in our high-tech world, is a complicated, inexact science that offers no guarantees.

Maclean's senior writer Michael Friscolanti, who has been following the story closely since it began unfolding in August, goes behind the scenes to find out the details of what went wrong and what is being done to protect Canadians from future outbreaks. He interviews a somber Maple Leaf president Michael McCain, who now faces class-action lawsuits; industry experts who can't agree on the best way to test for and control food-borne pathogens; and the leading scientists who are fighting to stop the seemingly unstoppable bug.