A couple of weeks ago Maple Leaf Foods recalled a number of deli meat products that were distributed across Canada. The list is here, and it is extensive. The suspected contaminant was the Listeria bacterium, which could cause the usual headache, nausea, diarrhoea, and possibly death in the old, very young, or those with compromised immune systems. So far, eleven deaths have been attributed to the Maple Leaf Foods Listeria outbreak.
Listeria and the symptoms it produces, Listeriosis, are extraordinarily common in the population. Listeria bacteria are as normal as belly button lint and the vast majority of us humans can shake it off without even knowing we’ve got it. In the US, the incidence is 2 to 3 people per million population, or in simple terms, more people break their wrists playing tennis than come down with Listeriosis.
What the outbreak has identified is a big problem with the massive consolidation of industrialized food production in Canada. The specific production plant, 97B, in North York, produced deli meat of various kinds for dozens of companies. Originally the outbreak was thought to only affect deli products produced for the institutional market, meaning hospitals, nursing homes, cafeterias and restaurants who buy a couple of hundred pounds of corned beef or shaved ham at a clip. Then the recall expanded dramatically, as investigators found that more products were potentially at risk for contamination.
Here’s the catch: Listeria bacteria and the illness can show up as long as 70 days after ingestion. Which means anything that was processed on the particular line at North York in the past 70 days is suspect. To be safe, inspectors are going back more than 70 days to find the source and treating anything produced on the line as contaminated. Then, anything that has come in contact with potentially contaminated meat is also suspect and so on down the line.
The very common presence of Listeria in our food supply is also a problem. You can’t easily tell what contamination is merely the usual level of the bacteria, or the specific Maple Leaf-97B bacteria without time consuming DNA testing. Common-sense says that anything that tests positive for Listeria should be thrown out, which is what is being done.
Where things go strange is with the media and the scare-mongering associated with the outbreak. Maple Leaf Food, to their credit, immediately shut down the plant, disassembled and disinfected everything, including the ceiling and the kitchen sink, with an extensive protocol of chemistry, scrubbing, steam cleaning, washdowns and then inspections by third-party folks. I suspect that Plant 97B is cleaner and more sanitary than your own kitchen and bathroom right now.
Also to the credit of Maple Leaf Foods, their CEO Michael McCain didn’t bob and weave around things: He took the blame straight on and said he was sorry that his company did or didn’t do something that has affected the quality of their products and has apologized for the error. He’s also allowed the media to come in and watch the sanitization process and to answer any questions, including the dumb and mean-spirited questions that reporters can come up with. Some learned folks are saying that the Maple Leaf Food outbreak and response is the new case study for how to manage bad news by a corporation, the last case study being the Tylenol poisoning 20 years ago.
Now to the real issue. One would think that Maple Leaf Foods only produces Maple Leaf products. This is not accurate. Like any very large company, Maple Leaf produces other label products. The list on the Maple Leaf website includes Artisan Collection (A&P brand) Best Value, Bittner’s, Boston Pizza, Burns, Campfire, Compliments, Coorsh, Country Morning, Equality, Harmonie, Hickory Farms, Hygrade, Kirkland, Maple Leaf Consumer Foods, Mayfair, McDonald’s, Mitchell’s, Mr, Sub, NoName, Olympic, Overlander, Parma, Pizza Nova, Safeway, Schneiders, Shopsy’s, Swift, The Butcher’s Cut, Tim Horton’s, Western Family and Westfair brands.
Simply put, Maple Leaf produces more than half the brands that exist across Canada. Which explains why the recall and reaction has been so big. There are benefits to big companies, like the economies of scale and the ability to do the testing beyond the accepted standard as a cost of doing business. To their credit, Maple Leaf Foods tests several times more than the Federal standard, just to make sure everything is fine, as they have a self-interest is producing a safe, quality product.
Where there is a downside to ‘big’ is the effects of one small problem spread very rapidly to many potential points of risk. One employee not washing their hands can literally destroy thousands of pounds of product in a matter of minutes.
To keep the outbreak in perspective, consider this: Eleven deaths directly attributable to the Listeriosis outbreak from Maple Leaf. Another 33 confirmed cases of probable infection. Let’s double it and make it all the ‘fault’ of Maple Leaf. That would be 88 all together, worst case.
Number of deaths from automobile crashes across the US in 2007: 43,000, or 828 a week. Using the 10 percent rule for US vs. Canadian figures, 82 deaths in Canada a week from cars.
I’m not hearing anyone demanding they ban cars, or driving, or setting up a class-action lawsuit against GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai for wanton neglect in allowing their cars to actually move and potentially kill several dozen people a week.
Perspective is important.
RoadDave 