The aftermath of the listeria outbreak caused by contaminated ready-to-eat meats produced by Maple Leaf Foods in Toronto, Canada continues to generate some interesting news. The class action lawsuit that’s underway has attracted support from some 4,000 plaintiffs including the families of the 20 people who died in the outbreak.
Then there’s the joint investigation by CBC and the Toronto Star that looked into the response of Chartwell Care Corp., Canada’s largest third-party manager of seniors housing, to the outbreak.
CBC-Toronto Star reporters found that two-thirds of meat samples taken from Toronto-area nursing homes and hospitals in mid-August for testing were contaminated with listeria. Chartwell posted letters in two of its nursing homes in southern Ontario – including Villa Forum in Mississauga – after Maple Leaf Foods began recalling all its products from one Toronto plant in August.
The posted letters, which confirmed one case of listeriosis among the nursing home’s residents, said the chain would take blood samples for all the residents in the home.
However, the joint CBC-Toronto Star probe found the letters were later removed and no testing was done on residents.
AOL has a summary of the investigation here. The Windsor Star has a story on who’s in and who’s out of the class action lawsuit here.