TORONTO - Thousands of Ontario prisoners and staff unwittingly dined on potentially Listeria-tainted breakfasts, lunches and dinners for four days earlier this month, said government officials.
They said positive test results for the bacterium that can cause gastrointestinal problems, and in worst cases death, correspond with dates matching food that would have been consumed a week earlier.
"We didn't get the results of those tests until (Nov. 21), so likely that food was consumed by inmates," said Stuart McGetrick, spokesman for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
"But I should stress at this point that we don't know the food that was consumed was contaminated, because we don't know how widespread that contamination was. All we can say right now was that those three samples were contaminated."
The tests relate to samples taken from food that may have been eaten between Nov. 13 and 16. So far, no illnesses related to the individually packaged meals have been reported.
Some 4,500 prisoners reside in the affected prisons of Maplehurst and the Vanier Centre for Women in Milton, Central North Correctional Centre in Penetanguishene, Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ottawa-Carleton Correctional Centre, St. Lawrence Valley Correctional and Treatment Centre in Brockville and the Brockville Jail. Thousands more work at the facilities, such as jail guards.
Listeriosis is a food-borne sickness contracted by eating food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Symptoms, sometimes experienced as a mild case of flu, include vomiting, nausea, cramps, diarrhea, severe headache and fever. In rare cases, it can lead to brain infection and death.
Upon receiving the positive results Friday as part of routine testing, the Halton Region Health Department ordered the Milton-based Eurest Dining Services to halt production and distribution of food. It's also been ordered to implement a plan to sanitize the plant and equipment.
Government officials also began several rounds of notification, including informing the inmates, staff and health-care workers inside the facilities. However, it's been somewhat tougher notifying individuals who may have eaten the food while incarcerated but have since been released, McGetrick said.
"That can be problematic for us, because we may not have correct addresses for those who have left the institutions, they might be difficult to track down," he said.
Federal prisons, probation and parole officers and health-care workers throughout the province have been notified, he said.
Smokey Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, whose members may have eaten the food, said the union is monitoring the situation.
"I think (the ministry has) done all they can, now it's just a wait and see if anyone gets sick."
There's little concern for the wider public, McGetrick said, as the government-owned facility only distributes food to the seven corrections institutions. He couldn't provide details on the kind of food samples that turned up the Listeria or a potential cause of the contamination.
There's also no estimate yet on how much money the spoiled food cost.
In most cases, Listeriosis passes through in one to three days, though it can incubate for up to 70. The meals in question are sent to the prisons frozen, but are then reheated at temperatures that should kill any existing bacteria.
There's also no concern for the illness spreading within the prisons because Listeria is transmitted through food, not passed between people, said Andrew Morrison, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.
"You can't catch it from a contagious standpoint," he said.
