Dozens more raw beef products are being recalled from some restaurants and grocery stores in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario, including Walmart and Pusateri’s.
The items are just the latest to be ensnared in a series of safety warnings from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which also found possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination among products from the Toronto-based slaughterhouse Ryding-Regency Meat Packers Ltd.
The additional products include a Steakhouse Select brand of cracked pepper beef sirloin roast sold at Walmart in Ontario and Alberta; a Fast Fresh Fabulous brand of bacon-wrapped medallions sold at Overwaitea in British Columbia; and more than a dozen products sold at various Pusateri’s Fine Foods outlets in the Toronto area.
Ryding-Regency Meat Packers Ltd. distributes raw beef and veal products to hotels, restaurants and institutions across the country. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency suspended the plant’s food safety licence on Sept. 17, saying the facility “failed to implement effective control measures.”
That was followed by several recall warnings throughout October, including items sold in Quebec and New Brunswick and nationally to restaurants.
There have been no reported illnesses but the agency advises consumers to throw out recalled products or return them to the location where they were purchased. The agency notes that food contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 may not look or smell spoiled but can still cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and bloody diarrhea.
The Canadian Press
