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.
