February 26, 2009
Maple Leaf confirms completion of listeria-contaminated hotdog recall
Canada's largest food company, Maple Leaf Foods, has completed its recall of listeria-contaminated hotdogs.
The recalled products were produced at the company's Hamilton, Ontario plant. The products include:
Shopsy's Deli Fresh all Beef Frankfurters, (Product Code 20730 and UPC 6487520730) with a Best Before date of AL22 and AL23 (April 22 and 23) and,
Maple Leaf Hot Dogs Original, (Product Code 22356 and UPC 6310022356) with a Best Before date of AL23
Both products are sold in 450 gram packages and were distributed to customers in Eastern Canada.
About 1,100 cases of wieners were quarantined for a second round of testing at the Ontario plant but they were shipped out prematurely by mistake, the company said. Initial testing revealed a partial positive result for a listeria species.
It is unknown whether the recalled products were tested positive for Listera monocytogenes, a species that can be fatal to humans and was responsible for last year's deadly listeriosis outbreak also directly connected to Maple Leaf. Last year's outbreak killed at least 20 people and triggered the largest meat recall in Canadian history.
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is a leading food processing company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The Company employs approximately 24,000 people at its operations across Canada and in the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia. The Company had sales of $5.2 billion in 2008.
