Several popular brands of breads and buns have been recalled in Canada after pieces of metal were found in the products, and a food expert believes faulty machines could be the culprit.
According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), common household staples such as Country Harvest, D’Italiano, Great Value, No Name and President’s Choice are included in the recall, which involves whole grain brown breads, hamburger buns, loaves and hot dog buns.
“This recall is linked to Sifto brand Hy·Grade Salt recalled due to pieces of metal, as the affected salt was used to make these recalled products,” the CFIA said in a notice on Nov. 1.
The health agency warns the public not to use, sell, serve or distribute the affected products, which were shipped to Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.
In a statement on its website, Wonderbrands, the parent company of popular bread brands including Wonder Bread and D’Italiano, said it has taken action and pulled all contaminated products from its shelves.
“This issue affected only one of our bakeries. Upon notification, we immediately stopped using the contaminated material and removed all potentially affected products from the market,” the statement reads.
“Since October 26, we have restocked all stores with new products made using salt from an alternate supplier. The products currently available in stores are safe for consumption,” it added.
POSSIBLE REASON FOR METAL FOUND IN BREAD
Food Policy and Safety Professor and Senior Director at Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab Dr. Sylvain Charlebois believes the reason behind the bread recall could be a faulty machine, as some manufacturing plants are under capitalized and possess old equipment.
“I’m not saying that this is exactly why this recall happened, but it is a possibility, for sure. And so, that’s why I think there’s certainly concern about maintenance, you would be concerned about maintenance and inspections and audits as well,” he said to Now Toronto on Thursday.
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Charlebois says the rebound to address and clear the affected products should not be lengthy and will not be highly noticeable to the public. He adds that this recall is less alarming compared to past recalls involving salmonella or listeria.
Back in August, three people died in Canada from a listeria outbreak in connection with the recall of Silk and Great Value brand plant-based beverages. Later in October, four people became ill with listeria amid the jellied beef tongue recall.
“I would say that these recalls are not as bad as say listeria recalls or listeria due to E coli, salmonella, those are much more common. That’s what we saw this summer with the Silk recall. It’s not as bad because the thing about foodborne illnesses is that you have to investigate, you have to shut down plants, you have to test. It takes longer,” he explained.
Overall, he reveals the amount of recalls in recent months this year is very normal and does not outpace numbers over the years.
“It really depends on how much attention some recalls will get. This particular recall, I don’t think will get a whole lot of attention. Why? Because it’s a foreign object recall. These things will happen. They’re not overly common, but they do happen, and it’s about eight to 10 per cent of recalls are due to the fact that a manufacturer will notice a missing piece, or there may be some debris and they suspect that some debris may actually have fallen into the food,” Charlebois said.
“…That’s why they recall and of course, the bread sector is highly consolidated. It’s FGF brands that would actually manufacture most of these brands and that’s why they have to recall so many brands, the scope of that recall is pretty big,” he continued.
Going forward, Charlebois recommends the public to be extremely cautious about the products they’re buying and consuming.
“There’s lots of products, lots of detail, lots of data, so be sure to look at the CFIA list very carefully and see whether or not you do have a recall product because you have to look at lot numbers. You also have to look at the best before dates as well. Best before dates are probably the most critical,” he said.
For a full list of recalled bread products, click here.
