An investigation into the Ontario facility at the centre of a plant-based milk recall has found it failed to follow listeria prevention protocols.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) released the findings on Tuesday of its food safety probe related to the national recall of several Silk and Great Value brand plant-based milk products. The affected products were pulled from store shelves in July after they were linked to a listeria outbreak that killed three people and infected at least 20 others in Ontario, Alberta, and Nova Scotia.
The agency stated that it visited Danone Canada's third-party manufacturing plant Joriki Inc. in Pickering six times and found it did not properly implement environmental swabbing and finished product testing in adherence to Health Canada's policy on listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods. As a result of the findings, production at the plant has been fully halted and a significant cleanup and renovation operation is being conducted.
"Manufacturing will not resume until all necessary safety measures are in place, and until we are confident that the risk of contamination has been eliminated," the CFIA said. "Inspectors are closely monitoring the situation, continuing to conduct regular visits to ensure that corrective actions are completed before production can restart."
Additionally, the agency's inspector general has begun an initial review of the circumstances surrounding the recall to identify risks that could lead to similar incidents.
The Joriki plant was not considered a "high risk" before the listeria monocytogenes contamination, based on a CFIA risk assessment done in 2021. The assessment took into account the types of food that are manufactured and processed at a facility. A three-year survey of plant-based milk alternatives completed in 2022 by the CFIA found them to be "generally safe" with no listeria monocytogenes found in the samples taken.
As such, the CFIA did not conduct a licence inspection prior to this investigation. However, inspectors had previously visited the plant in relation to consumer complaints in 2018, 2019, and in 2023-2024. The complaints were related to the possible presence of allergens, off-taste, and mould. The facility took all necessary action to resolve the complaints, the CFIA said .
According to the CFIA, this was the first time plant-based beverages had been linked to illness in Canada.
"This outbreak shows that new risks can and do emerge as scientific evidence evolves," the CFIA said.