Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health said more cases of listeriosis will likely be reported as the result of a nationwide outbreak of the potentially dangerous bacterial infection.
At a press conference at the Ontario legislature on Thursday afternoon, Dr. David C. Williams said he expects more cases to be reported in the coming weeks because listeriosis has an average incubation period of three weeks.
Williams said at the press conference that the government first became aware of a problem with the bacteria on July 25 thanks to the province's post-SARS tracking system.
He credits the system put in place following SARS with detecting the current listeriosis outbreak after he said a pattern began to emerge from health units across southern Ontario.
"When we got up to eight or nine in the later part of July that's when we started asking health units, 'could you go back and get us some more information," Williams said.
But the opposition is criticizing the government for taking too long to inform the public.
"There's been some sort of failure to communicate in a timely manner so that the public could be made aware, so that we could make the choices to make ourselves safe," NDP MPP Gilles Bisson said Thursday.
Bacteria confirmed
Williams confirmed that listeriosis was the underlying cause of death of one person in Ontario, but cannot say for sure where the outbreak started.
The person who died from the outbreak was an elderly woman from Hamilton, Ont.
Williams said he could not confirm a direct link with the recall at the Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto.
The closed processing plant has been identified as the "probable source" and Williams said they are waiting for confirmation by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The bacteria has been discovered at the Toronto plant but it has not been confirmed if it is the same one that caused the outbreak.
Regardless, Maple Leaf has recalled about 500,000 kilograms of meat.
Eight cases have been ruled out, said Williams, but 17 cases of listeriosis have been confirmed: 13 in Ontario, two in British Columbia and one each in Saskatchewan and Quebec.
One case involves a pregnant woman in her 40s, but Williams could not provide details of her condition.
The two cases in B.C. are hospital patients, one in Fort St. John and the other in Prince George, who said they were served the deli meats as part of the regular meal service.
Dr. David Bowering, the chief medical officer for Northern Health in B.C., said the two patients contracted the same strain of the bacteria found in the Toronto plant while they were being treated in hospital for more serious conditions.
Feds criticized
The outbreak comes at a time when the federal government is reported to be considering getting out of the food-inspection business and allowing the food industry to police itself.
However, Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter told CTV Newsnet that the alleged plan is "a terrible move" because consumers' safety would not be guaranteed if inspections were left up to private companies.
Easter also told The Canadian Press that such a move could lead to more food-safety problems if businesses decide to conduct fewer inspections as a cost-saving measure during times of economic recession.
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion told reporters in Toronto that the Conservatives backing the self-inspection plan are the same ones who were in Ontario's provincial Conservative government during the tainted water crisis in Walkerton, Ont. that killed seven people and more than 2,000 seriously ill.
Dion pointed out Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Environment Minister John Baird and Health Minister Tony Clement as ""the same people . . . who are responsible (for) what happened in Walkerton."
Plant closed
Maple Leaf Foods says the plant will be closed for four days as the company investigates an outbreak of listeria monocytogenes and expands a recall of its packaged meats.
The company has recalled 23 packaged meat products, including sliced cooked turkey breast, roast beef and salami.
The products that were recalled came from two specific production lines at its Toronto plant.
Maple Leafs invited the media into their Toronto plant Thursday, which could be seen undergoing a massive decontamination.
On Sunday, Maple Leaf issued a recall of its Sure Slice roast beef and corn beef products, which are produced at the Toronto plant, after they tested positive for low levels of listeria.
The products that are part of the recall have been distributed to nursing homes, delis and restaurants across Canada, including McDonald's and Mr. Sub.
McDonald's has temporarily removed its turkey BLT sandwich from its menu while the investigation into the cause of the bacteria outbreak continues.
However, Balsom said the recalled meats should all have been removed from sale by mid-afternoon Wednesday.
Symptoms of listeriosis include nausea, vomiting, cramps and fever.
The recalled products were produced from June 2 onward.
The 23 products have an establishment number of 97B and have best before dates ranging from Sept. 30 to Jan. 1, 2009.
