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.
