Listeria Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark Law Firm : Listeria Blog

For the second year in a row, Chang Farms of Whatley, MA is recalling bean and soy sprouts because of the possible presence of Listeria monocytogenes (L. Monocytogenes) contamination.

Testing at a retail store in New York was positive for Listeria.

The affected product is packaged in 10 lb bags (bulk) and 12 oz plastic bags (retail), labeled under the Chang Farm Brand as Soy Sprouts and have a “Sell By” date of May 23, 2009 or May 24, 2009 and Bean Sprouts with “Use By” date of May 23, 2009 or May 24, 2009.

The product has been distributed to retail stores and restaurants throughout MA, CT, NY and NJ.

Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

In April, 2008, The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) is issued a warning to the public not to consume any soy sprouts produced from Chang Farms in Whatley, Mass. because Listeria was discovered in the product.  We covered that recall here.  The FDA's website carries the Chang Farms recall press release here.

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The special hearings on the state of food safety in Canada --called after people consumed meat contaminated with listeria last summer from a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto, resulting in the death of 22 Canadians---continue up north.

Latest to weigh in with their opinions are Canada's meat inspectors.  

According to the Vancouver Sun, front-line meat inspectors and supervisors on Monday told parliamentarians they were "grossly" understaffed prior to the outbreak and more resources are still needed to ensure food is safe to eat.

It was the first public comment by the meat inspectors since last summers deadly listeriosis outbreak.

"We want to ensure process meat inspectors are responsible for no more than two RTE (ready-to-eat) facilities," said Agriculture Union president Bob Kingston at a parliamentary subcommittee.

Kingston said meat inspectors in Canada are overworked making it impossible for them to carry out their duties.

Mandatory quarterly and annual audits were not completed at the Maple Leaf Foods plant, which he said lead to CFIA "missing the signs of trouble in May and June, just before the outbreak." 

There is more on what the MPs are being told in the Vancouver Sun here, and Toronto Star here.

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is in the running as one of the nominees for the prestigious Code of Silence award, recognizing the most secretive government, department or agency in Canada.  The award is made by Canadian Association of Journalists and the winner will be made at Saturday in Vancouver at CAJ's annual gala.   The Association has 1,300 members from across Canada. 

The CFIA was nominated for the award, according to CAJ, because:

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency for dramatic delays and extensions on requests related to the listeria outbreak that killed 22 Canadians and triggered hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of illnesses. Requests filed for inspections records on the Toronto-area Maple Leaf plant at the centre of the outbreak took nine months to produce, and communication records with the company are still embroiled in delays. For one of the biggest public health issues to face Canada in recent years, details behind the cause of the outbreak, the apparent delay in warning Canadians and the agency's handling of the aftermath remain filled with unanswered questions.

CFIA is up against some tough competition for the award, including what CAJ calls the "spin machine" of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.   We won't be there, but will attempt to bring you a report on who wins.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "is currently conducting a risk analysis of the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes in foods like dairy products, deli meats and fresh produce, and has encouraged raw milk cheesemakers to contribute data to the study. Their conclusions could vindicate or signal the end of raw milk cheese production."

So says Plenty Magazine on the Mother Nature Network.

From reading the article one is left with the impression that something called the Raw Milk Cheesemakers' Association is on the brink of convincing FDA that raw milk cheese prepared properly is not a risk.

We know it is a risk and we doubt seriously if FDA is going to come down on the raw milk cheese is safe side.   Roll back seven weeks ago.   FDA sent its Plant and Dairy Food Safety director, John F. Sheehan, up to Congress to specifically address the raw milk issue.  "Raw milk should not be consumed by anyone, at any time, for any reason," Sheehan told lawmakers.

In his 18-page prepared testimony, Sheehan specifically addressed the raw milk cheese issue. He said: "Pasteurization is required for all milk and milk products in final package form intended for direct human consumption which move in interstate commerce. (21 CFR 1240.61)  The only exceptions to this requirement are for certain cheeses and those exceptions are no absolute but come with certain other requirements relative to the manner by which any raw milk cheese must be ripened. In promulgating this regulation, FDA made a number of findings relative to raw milk, including the following: "Raw milk, no matter how carefully produced, may be unsafe"

Plenty Magazine explains the status quo this way: "The laws governing American raw milk cheese production, which stipulate that any cheese intended for eating before it is 60 days old must be pasteurized, were implemented in 1949 in the belief that only aged, raw milk cheeses were suitable for consumption. Since then, the FDA has repeatedly proposed banning all raw milk products, including aged cheeses, amid lingering fears that they’re inherently more dangerous than their pasteurized counterparts."

Sheehan's testimony before the Health & Government Operations Committee can be found here.

The Plenty Magazine story in the Mother Nature Network is here.  It includes a list of places to buy aged raw milk cheese now (before it is outlawed?).

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 In case anybody was wondering, political tactics remain the same world-wide.   In the United States, President Obama is still blaming President Bush for most anything that might stick.   In Canada, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz of the Conservative government in Ottawa just blamed a 2005 decision by the previous Liberal government for last year's listeria outbreak that killed 21 people across Canada.

The Canwest News Service reports that  Ritz "tried to farm out some of the blame to the previous Liberal government when he testified that the decision in 2005 to cancel the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's mandatory listeria testing program was a big blunder.

"Environmental tests were not required and there was no requirement to report the results," Ritz testified. "The cancellation of that particular program by the previous government was a huge mistake."

Staff at the Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto that produced contaminated meat last year conducted regular tests searching for listeria in the plant environment, including food-contact surfaces.

But the company wasn't required to do so or to report the results to government inspectors.

And at the time of the outbreak, the CFIA wasn't aware of the existence of these test results, which showed numerous positive test results for listeria.

Canwest has more here.

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