CANADA: Food-borne illness report criticizes Ontario

17.apr.09
Toronto Star/CP
Emily Mathieu
Canadian Press

A lack of communication, co-ordination and access to local testing
facilities during the listeria outbreak delayed the spread of clear and
timely information to the public, according to a report by Ontario's top
medical officer.
It also warned that given the increase of large-scale food production
facilities outbreaks similar to the listeria outbreak - which resulted
in the deaths of 21 people - would likely happen again.
"Ontario and Canada need different structures and processes to manage
the highly complex task of investigating and managing provincial and
national food-borne illnesses and outbreaks," states the Chief Medical
Officer of Health's Report on the Management of the 2008 Listerious
Outbreak in Ontario.
"Given the evolving trend to large-scale food processing, non-localized
outbreaks are likely to become more common and it may be increasingly
difficult for public health officials to pinpoint the specific source of
outbreaks," states the report.
The Maple Leaf facility was shut down Aug 20. In total, 220 meat
products produced at the North York plant were pulled from stores and
the public was advised to throw out any remaining products. The recall
cost the company an estimated $20 million.
According to the report, if an outbreak does occur the provincial or
territorial chief medical officer of health should immediately establish
outbreak coordination committees to guarantee the swift and accurate
passage of information between health officials.
The report criticized Ontario's dependency on federal agencies for
laboratory testing and suggested the newly created Ontario Agency for
Health Protection and Promotion increase the capacity of local labs to
conduct a wider range of tests for bacteria that pose a threat to public
health.
While the report praised the province's web-based integrated Public
Health Information System (iPHIS) for flagging the outbreak, increased
and timely entry of information by provincial and federal workers must
be stepped up for the system to be effective.
"Timing and complete reporting is crucial to detect outbreaks. The
system would be more efficient if all health units routinely entered
cases quickly and provided complete surveillance data," the report
stated.
In October 2008, confidential testing records obtained by Star reporter
Robert Cribb through a joint investigation with the CBC showed two
thirds of Maple Leaf meat products at nursing homes and hospitals in
Toronto had tested positive for the bacteria prior to the outbreak being
reported.
Some of the sealed products tested had best-before dates ranging from
August to October. Health experts said that pointed to a period of
contamination that could be two months.
Dr. David Williams, the province's chief medical officer of health, says
outbreaks involving more than one jurisdiction are complex to
investigate.