|
Last Updated: Dec 27th, 2006 - 19:07:47 |
National Post/ Lindsay Daily Post
TORONTO, December 27, 2005 - Jia Quan Shi, the manager of a bustling supermarket in Toronto's Chinatown, was cited as reaching deep into a bin of mung bean sprouts and drops a handful of the white crunchy legumes into his mouth, stating, "See? A very safe snack."
Supermarket managers such as Mr. Shi have been doing a lot of reassuring lately, since a major Toronto bean sprout producer has twice, in one month, been forced to recall salmonella-infested batches of sprouts. The first advisory came in November and was lifted on Dec. 14; the second was issued by the federal government on Christmas Eve.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued an alert telling consumers not to purchase sprouts produced by Toronto Sun Wah Trading, also known as Hollend Enterprises.
Because the sprouts are usually not sold with any product labels, consumers will have to contact stores where they were purchased to inquire about the producer.
Davendra Sharma, a food safety and recall officer with the federal food watchdog, was quoted as saying, "Basically, if they have bean sprouts they should get them checked out and see if they were supplied by Sun Wah."
At Hua Long Supermarket, Mr. Shi has posted a hand-written sign above his two bins of mung sprouts, advising consumers the product does not comes from Toronto Sun Wah, and was cited as saying he has been getting lots of inquiries from consumers informed by daily updates on the salmonella outbreak in the Chinese media.
He has been using another producer, Kim Kon Bean Sprout, for 10 years without a problem.
The stories note that since Oct. 1, 648 cases of salmonella have been reported across Ontario.
On Dec. 14, Ontario lifted the order against Toronto Sun Wah to stop distribution of its bean sprouts, confirming that the salmonella outbreak appeared to be over.
However, at the same time, Sheela Basrur, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, advised the public that sprouts are rarely considered "risk-free," stating in a press release that, "Individuals who are at risk of serious illness from food-borne infections, such as the elderly, people with weak immune systems and young children, should not eat any type of sprouts. Other individuals can reduce their risk of illness by avoiding raw sprouts."
Cooking mung spouts -- often done in Chinese cooking -- significantly reduces the likelihood of a bacterial infection
Diane Dingman, director of communicable disease control for the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit was quoted as saying, "While not all sprouts are contaminated and not everyone who eats sprouts will get sick, people need to know that eating sprouts does put them at risk for E. coli or salmonella. There are some groups who are at the greatest risk and should avoid eating sprouts altogether, but eating sprouts can also pose a risk to healthy people as well."
One story says that the World Health Organization estimates one in four people will get food poisoning during their lifetime (it's each year -- dp), yet Health Canada estimates only one in 10 of those cases will actually be confirmed and reported to a health unit (a lot more than that with most bugs -- dp).
© 2004-2005 by foodconsumer.org unless otherwise specified
Top of Page
|
