Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Listeria found in tanker-load of liquid eggs


A tanker truckload of liquid eggs from Global Eggs of Elmira, Ont., was found to be contaminated with Listeria before it was used as an ingredient for salad dressing at a Montreal plant.

The Salt Yolk Egg Product contamination was discovered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in July, 2011, according to recently-released CFIA documents.

Global was at the time under controlling ownership of L.H. Gray and Son Ltd.

The documents also indicate that Gray Ridge Eggs, a sister company of L.H. Gray and Son Ltd., had several flocks at its farms near Moorefield, Ont., contaminated with Salmonella enteriditis.

An anonymous employee sent a letter to the CFIA, to CTV news and the Toronto Star, warning that there was Salmonella enteriditis in two barns Gray owns near Moorefield and that some of those eggs were “slipping into the table market.”

The letter writer also said the CFIA and Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board are “aware of the situation and covering it up.”

The marketing board has a policy of immediately blocking eggs from any flock contaminated with Salmonella enteriditis from being sold fresh to consumers, known as the “table market”. They are to be directed to a processing plant where the eggs are broken and the contents are pasteurized before being sold. Pasteurization would kill any Salmonella enteriditis inside the eggs.

The letter writer also says Gray staff were washing some of the eggs at the farm because they were too dirty to pass inspection at the grading station.

Other records released by the CFIA indicate that a number of shipments to the grading station, intended to go for processing, had so many cracked and dirty eggs that the CFIA would not allow them to go for processing. They were to be junked.

Burnbrae Farms Ltd. of Lyn, Ont., also had several cases of salmonella.

The documents also indicate that an employee of Gray sent a letter to the Middlesex County’s health unit in London, warning that eggs from Gray’s salmonella-contaminated flock were being sold into the table market.

That warning prompted a flurry of e-mails among Canadian Food Inspection Agency staff on New Year’s Eve, 2009, trying to head off a crisis.

The CFIA officials seemed more worried about adverse publicity than the potential for food poisoning because the e-mails refer often to how to deal with media requests for information.

The e-mails also indicate that a “long term” Gray employee was dismissed in connection with the situation, but says the CFIA inspectors had “no details” as to who or why.

In March, 2009, the documents indicate four truckloads of Gray’s eggs were contaminated with Salmonella enteriditis. The flock involved was slaughtered within days of the discovery.

The CFIA diverted loads of 1,980 cases, 1,180 cases and two of 2,600 cases each to processing; a case holds 15 dozen eggs.

Burnbrae Farms had salmonella discoveries in its flocks and/or eggs in August, 2009, June, 2010, and October, 2010.

The discoveries of salmonella underline the risks of marketing eggs that are cracked since they pass through the wash water that is likely contaminated with salmonella and the harmful bacteria can penetrate through the cracks.

There have been previous reports, garnered from other Canadian Food Inspection Agency records, that indicate that both Gray and Burnbrae market cracked eggs in cartons that are supposed to only contain Grade A eggs. The documentation is from random-sample checking for grading accuracy.

The documentation that has been released also reveals that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is not testing for Salmonella enteriditis at grading stations.

That, says an e-mail among senior inspection staff, is the responsibility of the Egg Farmers of Ontario marketing board.

It says the CFIA is only checking eggs for accuracy of grading.

There have been random-sample checks that revealed up to 11 per cent of the eggs marketed by Gray Ridge and Burnbrae failed to meet Grade A standards. The shortcomings included cracked eggs, dirty eggs and eggs that were not the size claimed on the cartons.

The documents also indicate that the CFIA was tipped off about Gray eggs being stored “off site” and e-mails among CFIA staff indicated they were eager to track down the whereabouts.

Pictures indicate the eggs were being held in storage facilities with no refrigeration. The CFIA ordered them to go for processing and also ordered that they be washed before being sent for processing.

It’s the second time Gray eggs have been found in off-site storage. The other time, several years earlier, the CFIA originally ordered the eggs off the market.  Later, after some lobbying by Gray and the egg marketing board, they were allowed to go for processing.