Pat's Note: 

"I've looked at the records and that satisfies the legal requirement
for international trade." 

The Canadians are complaining about four days.

I'm complaining about nine years and the scale, number of victims and
gregraphical spread is much much greater.

There will be tears before bedtime in many a veterinary circle.

The price that is going to be extracted in lawsuits in going to be
truly terrible.

But the crimes are truly terrible too. The victims many; those damaged
and devestated many more. 

The world will never understand how such a small group could knowingly
do so much damage without being stopped.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/story.html?id=24af0e35-7690-4af6-afd7-c30193021a6a

Meat industry warned before public: Lawsuit
  
Ethan Baron and Linda Nguyen 
Canwest News Service 


Wednesday, August 27, 2008
 
A class-action lawsuit against Maple Leaf Foods in the wake of a
tainted-meat affair that has claimed six Canadian lives accuses the
company of telling its commercial partners about the contamination
four days before warning the public.

One of the class-action lawsuits filed by Merchant Law Group alleges
the company "was aware of the potential toxicity of several of its
food products four days prior to informing consumers but chose only to
inform distributors, placing consumers at risk.

"During this interim period hundreds of Canadians likely consumed the
suspect food products and many may have fallen ill," said a claim
filed in the B.C. Supreme Court in Victoria.

The claims made in the lawsuit have not been proven in court. 

Maple Leaf Foods has yet to file a defence and could not immediately
be reached Wednesday night to respond to the latest allegations.

Five lawsuits have been launched by the Regina-based Merchant Law
Group in Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. 

So far, there are 1,700 claimants signed up nationwide.

It's expected a sixth claim will be filed in Manitoba by the end of
the week. 

The latest allegations related to the outbreak of listeriosis came
Wednesday - the same day the president of Maple Leaf Foods declared
"the buck stops here" and defended the regulators who oversee the
industry.

The Maple Leaf Foods' Toronto meat processing plant was shut down last
week when it was determined that deli meats from the plant had been
contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. 

The company has recalled more than 200 brands of ready-to-eat deli
meats and sandwiches since then over fears that they may have been
tainted with the deadly bacterium.

Since the plant was closed, six fatalities in Canada have been traced
back to deli meats processed there. Federal public health officials
are investigating an additional nine deaths. 

In all, there have been 29 confirmed cases of listeriosis across
Canada, including 22 in Ontario, four in B.C., two in Quebec and one
in Saskatchewan. In addition, 31 more cases are under investigation,
federal health officials said Wednesday.

Lawyer Tony Merchant said the first reaction of Maple Leaf Foods was
to recall the meat, not inform consumers.

"I don't think they knew the seriousness of the problem," said
Merchant. "They haven't even yet accepted the seriousness of the
problem."

Damages against Maple Leaf Foods could run into hundreds of millions
of dollars.

"Many businesses also have substantial claims," said Merchant. 

"We've had a number of them join in our lawsuit. We think there are
going to be hundreds and hundreds more."

Federal officials also stood up for the country's food inspection
system in the wake of complaints that some inspectors are stretched
too thin under a new system.

"About 50 per cent of an inspector's time is on the floor of the
plant," Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said at an Ottawa news
conference. "The other 50 per cent is overseeing paperwork, most of it
scientific in nature, test results and the like."

The inspector stationed at the Toronto plant at the centre of a deadly
food-borne outbreak is responsible for six other facilities under a
new inspection system that's drawn complaints that staff "are working
off their feet."   

Bob Kingston, head of the agriculture unit of the Public Service
Alliance of Canada, told Canwest News Service this week: "They're
facing a choice of, 'OK, do I concentrate more on doing a thorough
inspection or do I concentrate more on getting the paperwork done that
says I've been to that plant, I've looked at the records and that
satisfies the legal requirement for international trade." 

Canadian Food Inspection Agency official Paul Mayers dismissed the
criticism that plant inspectors spend too much time on paperwork.

"I think it is important to recognize that the inspectors in the
plants are playing an incredibly important role," he said.

"We have a very professional team that reviews and, as the minister
has noted, reviews on a scientific basis the results of the company's
controls in order to determine that indeed each step along the process
of the production system - where hazards might be introduced - are
indeed under control. While some might characterize that as paperwork,
I characterize that as an important element of an effective inspection
system."

Speaking in Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., on Wednesday, Prime Minister Stephen
Harper suggested that his government plans to eventually hand more
responsibility for food inspections to the industry.

"Ultimately, any effective regulation is in a sense a joint
responsibility. We've increased the number of regulators, but we also
do rely obviously on the work done within the companies themselves,"
he said.

"We have increased the number of inspectors, we've increased the
amount we spend on protection, but we do also plan as we move forward
to change the system to make sure that we have greater responsibility
on those who ultimately market the product."

The Compliance Verification System, in place at federally regulated
meat plants since March 31, requires government inspectors to assume a
role akin to an auditor, where they review company paperwork to make
sure the company's food-safety protocols at critical points during
production are done properly.

John Jumas is the plant manager at Patty King International, one of
the processing plants under the Maple Leaf inspector's responsibility.

He says there's no doubt the workload has increased since the new
system was implemented in the spring.

Before the change, Jumas said the inspector would on average spend
about an hour each day at his plant, considered a small operation in
the world of meat-processing; the plant is about 20,000 square feet
and produces one product, ready-to-eat Jamaican beef patties. Now, he
often comes early in the morning and again at the end of the day to
take care of any additional spot checks and paperwork.

"We're spending more time on them as well, but I see the need for it.
After something like this happens, you can see why," said Jumas of the
massive recall.

He added the recall has just made things even busier for the
inspector. "He says it's been tough. It's really busy right now," said
Jumas.

The Toronto plant will stay closed until further notice, but the
situation is being assessed on a day-to-day basis, Maple Leaf
president Michael McCain said Wednesday. The massive recall and plant
closure is expected to cost the company more than $20 million. 

McCain also said Maple Leaf foods was prepared to take blame for the
outbreak, and defended the country's food regulators.

"I absolutely do not believe this is a failure of the Canadian food
safety system or the regulators. Certainly knowing there's a desire to
assign blame, I want to reiterate that the buck stops right here. "

He said the company lives "in a culture of food safety, we have an
unwavering commitment to keep our food safe and we have an excellent
system and processes in place. But this week, it's our best efforts
that failed."

Meanwhile, an elderly Ontario woman who died this week of a listeria
infection is the first person to be publicly identified as a victim of
listeriosis.

Her son described his mother's death Wednesday as "awful."  

"We found out when the lab work started coming back that she died from
listeriosis," said Tim Clark, whose 89-year-old mother, Frances, died
Monday in hospital.

Clark said his mother was taken to hospital on Friday after she
developed a sudden high fever, extreme weakness, aches and pains and
laboured breathing. As the day progressed, she became unable to speak.

"By Friday evening, she was making sounds at that point and then
became unconscious after that," he said. "By Monday morning, we knew
it was serious and we know that they were putting antibiotics in her
just as fast as they could, but they couldn't get the temperature
down. She wasn't improving. It was looking pretty bad." 

"She suffered an awful death, I'll tell you," he said.

McCain said that while Maple Leaf Foods was concentrating on the
situation at hand, they feel deeply for the victims of the outbreak.

"We feel very deeply saddened by this and I'm just not sure exactly
what the appropriate way forward might be," said McCain. "Certainly,
right now, events are unfolding quickly and all of our attention is to
try to resolve the current situation. But I think at the appropriate
moment we'll . . . concentrate on what the right way to address and
approach the victims of this situation."

Quebec's Public Health Department was also dealing with at least two
cheeses that are being recalled.

The Agriculture Department has recalled two brands of cheese - Mont
Jacob, produced at a plant in St. Therese before Aug. 29, and Riopelle
de l'Ile, bought between Aug. 6 and 11. In both cases, people got sick
but did not die.

Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that exists in the environment
and can contaminate meats, fish and vegetables. It can lead to the
development of listeriosis, associated with flu-like symptoms that can
include nausea, vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, high fever, severe
headache, neck stiffness, constipation, persistent fever and death. 

Symptoms usually appear within two to 30 days, but it can take up to
90 days to get sick after someone has eaten contaminated food. The
elderly, pregnant women, children and those with weak immune systems
are most at risk. 

With files from Becky Rynor, Amy Husser

-- 
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com  and http://animal-epidemics.blogspot.com/