Unsafe at any feed: listeria may be an indicator

by Wordsnark | September 22, 2008 at 09:21 am

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After the listeriosis crisis -- and the election -- passes, there needs to be more vigilance and careful evaluation of food safety standards, policies, and practices in Canada.

There has been a stunning increase in the number of products pulled from the country's grocery stores and fast-food restaurants due to contamination by a sometimes deadly bacterium, and experts are proclaiming this as proof of a long-simmering crisis in the safety of Canada's food supply.

More than 440 food products have been recalled so far this year because of exposure to Listeria monocytogenes, including 323 related to a single production line at a Toronto meat processing plant. During the five years between 2003 and 2007, by comparison, the food-borne pathogen was mentioned in only 19 product recalls.