Public health officials attributed two more deaths to a deadly bacterial outbreak linked to tainted meat, raising Canada’s confirmed listeriosis death toll to six.
Six additional deaths were being investigated to determine if the dangerous ailment was a contributing factor, director-general of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Mark Raizenne said on Monday.
Listeriosis is a type of food poisoning that can be dangerous to the elderly, newborns, pregnant women and people with chronic medical conditions. Symptoms include fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
All of the deaths are part of a total of 26 cases of listeriosis across Canada, the bulk of them in Ontario, with confirmed links to the outbreak, Raizenne said.
Another 29 suspected cases are under investigation to determine if they are linked to the outbreak, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said.
Raizenne warned that the number of suspected and confirmed cases are both likely to rise.
Test results announced over the weekend have linked the outbreak with ready-to-eat meat produced by Maple Leaf Foods that was tainted with the listeria bacteria.
Maple Leaf has recalled 220 forms of meat products, as well as everything made at the company’s Toronto plant.
A Calgary-based distributor of ready-made sandwiches recalled dozens of goods sold in Saskatchewan and Alberta, saying some of them could contain recalled meat products.
The CFIA said the sandwiches, manufactured by Lucerne Foods, could contain some of the pre-packaged meat products recalled by Maple Leaf Foods.
Maple Leaf sells products in several countries, but the company said the recall for tainted meat is limited to Canada.
Maple Leaf, with revenues of more than US$4.95 billion, said on Monday that it is bracing for a decline in sales on top of the US$19-million product recall.
Officials with the Public Health Agency of Canada said on Monday that Canadians should remain on guard for at least a few more weeks, given listeriosis’ lengthy incubation of up to 70 days.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS