September 19, 2008

Maple Leaf Foods announced that operations at its Toronto facility will be resumed, following the completion of a pre-operation inspection conducted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

The facility was closed after certain products were found to contain listeria.

The Bartor Road facility has undergone six intensive sanitisations under the supervision of microbiologists and sanitation experts.

Slicing equipment has been completely disassembled and deep cleaned and tested multiple times. Slicing equipment across the company is subject to daily disassembly prior to daily cleaning and regularly scheduled intensive disassembly to verify elimination of potential harborage points.

The effectiveness of the sanitisation effort has been verified through recent extensive testing, including more than 1,200 swab tests for listeria from various points on all production lines and throughout the plant.

Maple Leaf has also enhanced its regular environmental Listeria monitoring programme, more than doubling the sampling sites and frequency of testing.

The plant will resume production over a phased-in period. No products will be released until the CFIA and Maple Leaf are fully satisfied that food safety protocols in place at the Bartor Road plant are effective. Test runs of products will also be completed before any new product is distributed from the plant.