Thursday, December 13, 2012

People sickened by Loblaws’ burgers


Canadians have been stricken with food poisoning by E. coli 0157:H7 in Butcher’s Choice Garlic Peppercorn Beef Burgers sold by Loblaws, but neither the company nor the government is saying how many people nor who made the burgers.

They are under recall - UPC 0 60383 89363 7 with BEST BEFORE 2013 MR 03 EST 752.

Establishment 752 is Cardinal Meats, one of Canada’s largest beef-processing companies supplying many supermarket and restaurant chains.

Dr. Doug Powell, a food safety communications specialist now working out of Australia, says he expects that both the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which regulates the meat packers and announced the recall, and the Canadian Public Health Agency,  which tracks food-poisoning outbreaks, will have more to say about this situation within the next week.

The last recall for E. coli 0157:H7 resulted in the closure of one of Canada’s largest beef-packing plants, XL Foods Inc. of Brooks, Alta. Some people were also stricken by food poisoning from that contaminated beef, but there are no reports of any deaths.