Cold Cuts

Posted by JoeB (Brampton, Canada) on 2 October 2008 in Food & Cuisine and Portfolio.

In Toronto at the plant of Maple Leaf Foods there was an outbreak of Listeriosis recently, so far 20 deaths have been connected to it. if 20 people where murdered there would have been a large outcry, but in this case the government has behaved like this is just an unfortunate error. This is the result of cutting back on inspectors and letting the industry police itself. The company has cleaned its slicing equipment where its believed it got started and there just back in business. Its now all up to the families who have filed class-action suits.

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Comments (7)

Twelvebit from Victoria, United States

OK, but chew on this: whatever you think of the government regulation of food there, it's probably about 100 times better for consumers than it is here. Of course, culpability is an issue, but I'm inclined to think some of these corporate crimes might need to be punished with executions like they are in China. Short of that though, in this case, I think it is entirely legitimate to ask whether a company that is so indifferent to the safety of it's products that it allows 20 of its customers to be killed by its negligence should be allowed to remain in business? (and if it isn't "negligence" then that means it can't be prevented, so we should expect more people being killed). Personally, I think the system will only approve when corporate executives start spending significant amounts of time in prison.

2 Oct 2008 5:56am

@Twelvebit: The crux is that they get away with these crimes and stay in business. The CEO of this company went on a full media damage control mode, saying what a responsible company he ran.

Linerberry from Sumner, Christchurch, New Zealand

OMG that is terrible! I really cannot believe this is going un-noticed and mostly brushed under the carpet!!!! That is outrageous! If it happened in NZ or even in the UK there would be an uproar, and a full investigation and they would not be allowed to continue until they had the all clear. Its just disgraceful! I'm shocked!!!

2 Oct 2008 11:28am

@Linerberry: The de-regulation and self policing is what lead to these deaths.

Lorraine from Gatineau, Canada

You are right about that...Great telejournalism here Joe! Great loss of money might just be what is needed for them to develop a conscience, this should never, ever happen!

2 Oct 2008 2:21pm

@Lorraine: Yea the loss of money seems to be the only thing they understand.

MadScientist from Düsseldorf, Germany

Seems to be a common trend and mirroring the Chinese milk scandal, just on a smaller scale.

2 Oct 2008 7:12pm

@MadScientist: The Chinese seem to go from one scandal to another , I have been watching the milk scandal grow to 53,000 illnesses. Oh by the way the Chinese refused imports of foods from Maple Leaf Foods.

Tamara from Fort Myers, FL, United States

that's awful! What a scary world we live in today...

2 Oct 2008 8:40pm

Michael Rawluk from Williams Lake, BC, Canada

The first thing I thought when I saw the shot was Listeriosis.

3 Oct 2008 3:41am

@Michael Rawluk: A lot of those products on the shelf belong to Maple Leaf.

Ronnie 2¢ from London, United Kingdom

Sobering to think how easily this can occur . . we have tight regulations in the UK but cases do slip thru and lives get tragically lost. For a while, we don't buy the stuff and, then, life returns to 'normal'. For some.

4 Oct 2008 7:27am

@Ronnie 2¢: This really was a case of the federal and provincial governments getting rid of inspectors and letting the industry police itself. But like you say people will forget.

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