Pregnancy Pregnancy Health Recalls

Pregnancy, Listeria and The Maple Leaf Foods Recall

This week Maple Leaf Consumer Foods and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency voluntarily expanded a recall of certain ready-to-eat packaged meat products. The CFIA is warning people not to serve or consume the products as they may contain Listeria monocytogenes.

A full list of the recalled meat and expiry dates is listed below.

While Listeria can paralyze a healthy person’s system, it is an especially serious disease when pregnant women, the elderly or individuals with a weakened immune system contract it. In serious cases it can lead to brain infection and even death.

 

Pregnant women are about 20 times more likely to get listeriosis than other healthy adults. If a pregnant woman develops listeriosis during the first three months of her pregnancy, she may miscarry. Up to two weeks before a miscarriage, pregnant women may experience a mild flu-like illness with chills, fatigue, headache as well as muscular and joint pain. Listeriosis later on in the pregnancy can result in a stillbirth or the birth of an acutely-ill child.

Scary facts:

  • Listeria is widespread in the environment – found in soil, vegetation, water, sewage, silage and in the faeces of humans and animals.
  • Animals and humans can carry the bacterium without knowing it.
  • Moreover, foods that are contaminated with this bacterium look, smell and taste normal.
  • Listeria can be killed by proper cooking procedures.
  • Listeria is more likely to cause death than other bacteria that cause food poisoning. In fact, 20 to 30 percent of foodborne listeriosis infections in high-risk individuals may be fatal.

Symptoms may start suddenly and include:

  • Vomiting
  • Nausea
  • Cramps
  • Diarrhea
  • Severe Headache
  • Constipation or
  • Persistent fever.

*In some instances, these symptoms may be followed by meningitis encephalitis (an infection of the brain or its surrounding tissues) and/or septicemia (blood poisoning), either of which can result in death.*

Minimizing your risk:

  • Read and follow all package labels and instructions on food preparation and storage.
  • After handling foods in the kitchen, especially raw foods such as meat and fish, thoroughly clean and sanitize all surfaces used for food preparation with a kitchen sanitizer (following the directions on the container) or use a bleach solution (5 ml household bleach to 750 ml of water), and rinse with water.
  • To avoid cross-contamination, clean all knives, cutting boards and utensils used with raw food before using them again.
  • Thoroughly clean fruits and vegetables before you eat them.
  • Refrigerate or freeze perishable food, prepared food and leftovers within two hours.
  • Defrost food in the refrigerator, in cold water or in the microwave, but never at room temperature.
  • Keep leftovers for a maximum of four days only and reheat them to an internal temperature of 74°C (165°F) before eating them.
  • Check the temperature in your refrigerator using a thermometer to make sure it is at 4°C (40°F) or below. As the storage temperature increases, so does the growth of Listeria in foods. The higher the number of bacteria in foods, the greater is the risk of getting sick.
  • Frequently wash and disinfect the refrigerator. The more often it is cleaned, the less chance there will be for Listeria to be transferred from contaminated food and surfaces to non-contaminated foods.


List of Recall meats:


Product Code Description Package Size Up to and including Best Before Date
26365 Sliced Cooked Turkey Breast 470 g SE 30
02106 Schneiders Bavarian Smokies 1 kg OC 28
02126 Schneiders Cheddar Smokies 1 kg OC 28
21333 Sure Slice Roast Beef 1 kg SE 30
21388 Sure Slice Combo Pack 1 kg SE 30
60243 Deli Gourmet Roast Beef slices 1 kg SE 30
02356 Seasoned Cooked Roast Beef 500 g OC 07
42706 Roast Beef, Seasoned and Cooked 500 g OC 07
21334 Sure Slice Turkey Breast Roast 1 kg OC 14
21444 Sure Slice Corned Beef 1 kg OC 14
44938 Montreal Style Corned Beef 500 g OC 14
21440 Sure Slice Black Forest Style Ham 1 kg OC 21
21447 Sure Slice Salami 1 kg OC 21
21331 Sure Slice Smoked Ham 1 kg OC 21
48019 Schneiders Deli Shaved Corned Beef 200 g OC 21
48020 Schneiders Deli Shaved Smoked Meat 200 g OC 21
48016 Schneiders Deli Shaved Smoked Ham 200 g OC 21
48018 Schneiders Deli Shaved Smoked Turkey Breast 150 g OC 21
48017 Schneiders Deli Shaved Fully Cooked Smoked Honey Ham 200 g OC 21
21360 Burns Bites Pepperoni 500 g 09 JA 01
99158 Turkey Breast Roast 1 kg SE 30
71330 Roast Beef Cooked, Seasoned 2.5 kg SE 30
71331 Corned Beef, Smoked Meat 2.5 kg SE 30

SOURCE
Thank you to GYB reader Susie!!


About the author

Lisa Arneill

Founder of Growing Your Baby and World Traveled Family. Canadian mom of 2 boys, photo addict, lover of bulldogs, and museumgoer. Always looking for our next vacation spot!

1 Comment

  • The deaths from the infected food are tragic but predictable. The government has been derelict in its duty to the public and has responded only in the interests to private business not the public good. You are concerned about your growing baby , but I’m a black listed scienctist, reproductive endocrinologist who discovered theories important to cancer and AIDs , but would expose bad reproductive scientists for inferior work and fraud. How did the federal government act. Did they help the research or act in co ordination with the crimials to cover up the fraud ? Yes,they aided the criminals while suppressing my research. Wouldn’t you call people who block cancer research “baby killers”? since childhood cancer appears to be on the rise. What about the plastic in baby bottles ? How long did that take to uncover? I have letters to Mike Harris, Jean Chretien, Bob Rae, Alan Rock plus many others (see http://www.cancerfraudbadbiotech.com) but what did they do? Rememeber Health Minister , Harper Governmet was with the Mike Harris government which gave you the bad flu vaccine. A vaccine you depend on for your children. What kind of world and health will your children have if you don’t speak up.You have to act and demand that federal laws and standards are enforced. If you don’t why won’t something else kill your child. Remember Sunrise propane explosion ? Who allowed that ? So speak up. Demand the government enforce high standards and hold private individuals accountable ? If you don’t no one will . Thank you. Edward A.Greenhalgh

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