Food inspection agency recalls cheese recall

Food inspection agency recalls cheese recall

Wrong batch identified as being contaminated

Last Updated: Monday, September 15, 2008 2:00 PM Et

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued a mea culpa after an inspector discovered a mix-up in which the wrong batch of Ivanhoe cheese was recalled because of listeria contamination.
The Canadian food watchdog issued a consumer advisory on Sept. 10 that a batch of Ontario-based Ivanhoe cheese bearing the code 3070 was contaminated with listeria.

However, upon reviewing documents two days later, an inspector found the wrong batch had been identified. In fact, the contaminated batch was 1089.

"The error was a computer/human error in terms of documentation. It was a simple typo that nobody picked up," said Garfield Balsom, a food safety and recall specialist with the CFIA.

The CFIA said it did not know how much, if any, cheese was thrown out by consumers as a result of the incorrect recall. None was thrown out at Ivanhoe as that batch had been sold.

The mix-up means there was a two-day delay in issuing the correct recall; however, Balsom said no illnesses have been linked to any of the Ivanhoe cheese recalls so far.

Such mistakes are fairly uncommon at the CFIA, said Balsom. It's the first time in his eight years there that he's seen an error of that type.

"We've got a pretty good track record," he said.

The CFIA will review the issue to see how such a mistake can be avoided in the future.