Recalled food directly tied to illnesses
Lack of info delayed investigation
Federal food safety inspectors confirmed Monday some of the frozen beef patties recalled recently contain an exact match of the potentially fatal bacteria that made at least five people sick.
As the Canadian Food Inspection Agency investigates how the product became tainted with an E. coli strain never seen before on the continent, officials are looking at whether meat from Australia or New Zealand that was used to make thousands of hamburgers may be to blame for the contamination.
“We are following up with these countries to review testing information and determine if any potential illnesses were reported,” said Paul Mayers, the agency’s associate vicepresident.
“If the CFIA’s investigation identifies potentially contaminated ingredients, additional products may be recalled.”
Since its first public alert last week, the agency has expanded the recall of burgers made at Cardinal Meat Specialists Ltd. four times as more product found on store shelves has tested positive for the bacteria.
The tainted burgers from the Brampton, Ont., plant were manufactured on four different days during July and August. Most were shipped to Loblaws and Real Canadian Superstore outlets across the country.
By late October, three people — including an Edmonton patient with a food history that included the Butcher’s Choice brand that’s now been implicated — had fallen ill.
But Mayers said CFIA was unable to issue a health alert at that point because there was no specific product details from the ailing Albertan or the other ill patients.
“There was no information in terms of product package, lot code, any of those things that would normally allow pinpointing,” he said.
“Taking action without this information could result in missed or misdirected recalls, which may not protect consumers.”
CFIA has previously indicated it only began its investigation into the tainted burgers on Dec. 5 after a fourth case was identified.
But Mayers revealed Monday that testing of the suspect Butcher’s Choice brand was first done in October, based on what the Edmonton patient claimed to have eaten.
“The results of that did not provide us with information
There was no information ... that would normally allow pinpointing PAUL MAYERS
that would have allowed us to act at that time, because all the tests were negative for E. coli,” he said.
Officials with CFIA and the Public Health Agency of Canada told reporters at a briefing Monday they acted as quickly as they could based on the available evidence, but they refused to release details of when each patient was matched to the unique strain and what information investigators had about their food consumption.
“We don’t routinely publish that or make it public,” said Gregory Taylor, PHAC’s deputy chief public health officer.
A Red Deer patient who fell ill in late November has since become the fifth case linked to the same strain of bacteria.
Bart Johnson, spokesman for Albert Health, said the individual, when asked last week, confirmed eating frozen burgers available from a Superstore outlet.
All five patients — two from Alberta and three from Ontario — have either recovered or are recovering, Taylor said.
Spices and domestically sourced beef used to make the burgers are also being investigated as a potential source of the contamination, but Mayers said the elaborate tracing back now underway may not provide a definitive answer.
“It may never be as simple as a single smoking gun,” he said.