Quebec
From Monday's Globe and Mail
September 8, 2008 at 3:29 AM EDT
Source of Article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080908.wlisteria08/BNStory/National/home
QUEBEC AND TORONTO — Public-health officials
fear the listeriosis outbreak in
The poor
forecast kept the food-safety issue in the spotlight as the federal election
campaign began yesterday.
"This
outbreak is far from over. It is not behind us yet," warned Horatio Arruda, Ministry of Health director for the protection of
public health.
"Out
of the 15 reported cases, one person has died. There were four pregnant women
who gave birth to premature babies. Two of the babies are being treated for listeriosis."
Dr. Arruda said there was no link to the listeriosis
outbreak involving contaminated meats from a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto
that have killed 13 people, mostly in Ontario.
The
outbreaks played havoc with the Conservative Party's election campaign launch
yesterday in
She
defended Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to conduct an independent
investigation to examine the circumstances that led to the Maple Leaf listeriosis outbreak.
"He
finds this crisis quite disturbing and fully intends to get to the bottom of
this," Ms. Verner said yesterday.
Dr. Arruda said pregnant women are particularly vulnerable, as
well as the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. Of the nine other
potential cases being examined in the outbreak linked to contaminated cheese,
three involve pregnant women. The number of cases will likely continue to rise,
he said, because of the listeria bacterium's long
incubation period of up to 70 days.
"This
is like a police investigation and it's been like looking for a needle in a
haystack. We reported the outbreak in August and now we have finally identified
two main sources of contamination. For public-safety reasons we had no choice
but to order all of the cheeses offered by the 300 retailers who sold any of
the recalled products to be taken off the shelves because of the danger of
cross-contamination."
The
recalls angered retailers who lost tens of thousands of dollars after being
ordered to destroy all of their cheese products.
The
Food
inspectors identified products packaged after July 12 from Fromagerie
Médard located in Saint-Gédéon
in the Lac-St-Jean region; and products packaged after July 14 from Les Fromagerie de la Table Ronde in
Sainte-Sophie, located in the Laurentian region north of
The
cheeses go under the names Le Rang des Iles, Les 14 Arpents,
Les Petits Vieux, Le Gédéon,
Le Médard, Le Couvertine,
Le Cabrouet, Les Cailles,
Le Fleurdelyse, Le Fou du
Roy and Le Rassembleu.
Inspectors
have not yet determined the cause of the listeria
contamination in the two cheese factories.
Meanwhile,
Maple Leaf said the contamination at its processing plant in
With a
report from The Canadian Press
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