TORONTO - Meat from a plant in Toronto is reported to have tested positive for listeria but Maple Leaf Foods says there is no food-safety risk to the public.
"Our food safety protocols are working and we have implemented the highest food safety practices in Canada, well above government and industry standards," said Michael McCain, president and chief executive of Maple Leaf.
"The greatest risk to the Canadian food safety system is the multitude of Canadian plants which do not find positive test results simply because they don't test adequately."
"If you test, you will find and you can eradicate with the proper protocols," McCain said Saturday in a news release. "If you don't test, you won't find, but there will be no eradication which is the real food safety risk in this country."
The company issued the news release after the Toronto Star reported that Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspectors were at the Cappola Food Inc. plant Friday after testing showed positives for the pathogen. Cappola produces deli meat for the Canadian and U.S. markets and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Maple Leaf Foods.
CFIA spokesperson Paul Mayers said that tainted meat tested within the past month has been destroyed as inspectors seek to identify the cause of the problem. There is no evidence of anyone being sickened by the product and the CFIA had issued no warnings or recalls.
"There was and is no food safety risk to the public," Maple Leaf says.
Linda Smith, a Maple Leaf spokeswoman, said the company has "the most stringent protocol" and therefore it's getting positive tests.
Smith said tests are conducted for all species of listeria but only one strain makes people sick. Positive tests may happen daily but they do not pose a threat to the public when the product is stopped from going to market, she said.
A listeriosis outbreak last summer killed at least 20 people and triggered the largest meat recall in Canadian history.
