Canadian food group Maple Leaf Foods has recalled nine wiener products produced under the Hygrade, Shopsy’s and Maple Leaf brands.
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The wieners, produced at the company’s plant in Hamilton, Ontario, are thought to possibly contain traces of Listeria monocytogenes, the company said yesterday (3 August).
The company said the recall is a “precautionary measure only” and that it is “100% in compliance with the Government of Canada’s new Listeria policy”.
“After last August’s tragedy, Maple Leaf is being ultra-cautious about Listeria,” said Randall Huffman, chief food safety officer at Maple Leaf Foods. “The Hamilton plant has a very strong food safety testing and sanitation programme, and the Listeria monocytogenes found in random product samples is at very low levels.”
The Public Health Agency of Canada has confirmed that there have been no reported illnesses related to these products, Maple Leaf said.
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By GlobalDataProducts featuring an establishment code other than EST 611 or Line other than L1 are not affected by the recall.
The company said it has built a “safety net” of hold and test quarantine procedures. However, the effectiveness of the procedures depends on rapid testing methods which the government have not yet approved, Maple Leaf said.
“We urge the Canadian government to approve commercially proven in-plant rapid testing methods which are now widely in use in the US and Europe and Maple Leaf will immediately implement this technology at all our prepared meat plants to improve the effectiveness of our quarantine procedures.”
Last year, contaminated deli meats from a Maple Leaf food processing plant in Toronto were linked to at least 22 deaths. Following an investigation, it was found that two slicers at the plant had been harbouring listeria bacteria.
Since then, the company has reached a C$25m (US$23m) settlement in a series of class-action lawsuits related to the listeriosis outbreak.
