The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Asian Food Imports are warning the public not to consume Green Cardamon described below because these products may be contaminated with Salmonella.

The following Green Cardamon packages, sold between January and March 2010 at Asian Food Imports store located at 275 Wyandotte Street West in Windsor, Ontario are affected by this alert. Green Cardamon is a product of Guatemala.

Product / Size / UPC
Green Cardamon / 100 g / 0 59011 41301 9
Green Cardamon / 200 g / 0 59011 41302 6
Green Cardamon / 400 g / 0 59011 41303 3

There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of these products.
 

Bad things seem to happen around the Victoria Day long weekend in Canada, known up there as May 2-4, because beer is sold in cases of 24 bottles, and Queen Victoria’s birthday was actually on May 24, 1819, although the long weekend in May to celebrate the start of summer – when youngsters insist on camping and it’s freezing and wet – falls on the Monday either on or before May 24.

Memorial Day in the U.S. is the last Monday in May.

On May 20, 2003, Canadian officials reported that a single case of BSE was diagnosed in Alberta. The eight-year old cow had been condemned at slaughter, was sent for rendering and did not enter the food chain. Although an isolated case, Canada was no longer free of homegrown Mad Cow Disease.

Mad Cow Disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is a chronic degenerative illness that affects the central nervous system of cattle. It is part of a family of rare diseases whose different forms affect different species of animals.

As the elementary school year wound down in June, 2003, in Ontario, Canada, the school three of my daughters attended had a barbeque for students, staff and parents.

The earlier discovery of BSE in Canada was of concern to some parents and school officials, so a note was sent home to parents, assuring them that the hamburgers and hot dogs to be consumed came from a supplier of so-called natural, beef and was therefore safe from BSE.

Leaving aside the scientific validity of such a statement (it's not), the concerns about a potentially catastrophic, poorly understood risk, while completely valid, can also mask the concerns, biases and threats presented by less-exotic food-related risks.

At this particular BBQ, several of the well-meaning volunteer cooks were observed to handle the raw, natural hamburger patties with tongs that were then used to place re-heated wieners into hot dog buns, possibly cross-contaminating the wieners with any number of pathogenic microorganisms such as E. coli O157:H7, salmonella or listeria, and subsequently served to parents and children.

In terms of food safety, the observed practices represented a far greater risk; sure, mad cow disease, with all its unknowns, is bad, but with all the attention being paid to the hypothetical risks associated with BSE and genetically-engineered foods, many of the consumers whose confidence is vital to the food business are being distracted from the basics.

The efforts exerted by farmers, processors, retailers and consumers to ensure safe food are greater than ever. Yet the public discourse is increasingly focused on hypothetical food-related risks, which makes great barroom chatter, but does little to alleviate the suffering like that experienced by the 56 high school seniors in Ontario stricken around the same time with E. coli O157:H7 and were more rightly more concerned about future plans and making an impression on their date.

Oh, and unlike every other country that has discovered BSE, consumption of beef actually increased. While price discounts, advertising, and promotional statements from various social actors about the safety of Canadian beef probably contributed to the sales increase, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was completely transparent, publicly showcasing -- in the form of daily press conferences lead by Canada's chief veterinarian, Dr. Brian Evans -- a vigilant, proactive regulatory system, while acknowledging the likelihood that the disease was not limited to just one animal. In essence, Dr. Evans and his team provided daily updates that said, this is what we know, this is what we don't know, and this is what we're doing to find out more. And when we find out more, you will hear it from us first. Transparency, along with efforts to demonstrable that actions match words, is the best way to enhance consumer confidence.

May 20, 2003, was also the day Justin Kastner successfully defended his PhD under my supervision at the University of Guelph. Kastner got on faculty at Kansas State, arranged for me to visit in fall 2005, I met a girl, got a job offer, and am still in Kansas. That wasn’t a bad thing. I will write about other bad Victoria Day stuff tomorrow.

Where is the unintentionally funny and still, inexplicably, Minister of Agriculture in Canada, Gerry-death-by-a-1,000-cold-cuts-and-isn’t-my-moustache-awesome Ritz as the latest listeria outbreak unfolds in Canada. He was front and center last time. How about the Canadian Food Inspection Agency? What about the Public Health Agency of Canada or Health Canada?

The Public Health Agency of Canada could not immediately say whether any listeriosis cases in other jurisdictions are under investigation for a link to Siena meats.

Can’t say or won’t say? It’s OK, you can tell me, I’m a doctor.

Canwest News Service reports that the Canadian province of Ontario is left to poke around the latest listeria mess and will now be investigating five listeria deaths for connections to Siena Meats.

Spokesman Andrew Morrison said the deaths are not linked to two previously recalled meat products from Siena Foods Ltd. which were matched, through a genetic fingerprint, to two non-fatal listeriosis cases in the province, adding,

“It’s important to note that those new products they recalled have a different genetic fingerprint than the first two. Regarding these newly recalled products, Ontario’s investigation is underway to determine any linkages to that.”

A string of reviews into the Maple Leaf listeriosis outbreak showed major gaps in the oversight of Canada’s food system and co-ordination problems with public health officials, including a report by independent investigatory Sheila Weatherill.

In her final report released last July, Weatherill — appointed by the federal government — zeroed in on a “vacuum in senior leadership” among government officials at the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that caused “confusion and weak decision-making.”

She also called on PHAC to take the communications lead during foodborne illness outbreaks.

Which is why it is notable the apparently poorly named Public Health Agency of Canada has once again zoned out during an outbreak.

Canada’s feeble attempt to move on in men’s Olympic hockey play tonight is not so much about hockey, and more about a titan clash between the world’s two greatest beer-drinking nations.

And what is beer?