September 12, 2008

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has told meat processors in the country to take apart and clean their meat slicers.

The action resulted from investigations at Maple Leaf Foods that concluded the likely source of the deadly listeriosis outbreak came from a corner deep inside the mechanical parts of two slicing machines.

The outbreak killed 14 people and led to a massive meat recall from Maple Leaf.

"The investigation has highlighted that organic material may become retained within the inner workings of slicing equipment even after routine sanitation has been performed and cleaning conducted in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications," said the CFIA.

The agency said operators should take apart and perform a systematic, thorough and aggressive cleaning and sanitation procedure on meat slicing equipment at the next scheduled line sanitation. 

The cleaning should include all internal non-electronic parts and the CFIA inspector is to be informed of all details of this exercise.

Operators should also perform listeria environmental sampling of contact surfaces; re-sanitise the equipment prior to reuse.