TORONTO - A botulism-scare recall in the United States by Castleberry's Food Co., a unit of Connors Bros. Income Fund, has been dramatically expanded and now includes a canned chili product sold in Canada.
Connors Bros. units fell 7� per cent Monday morning after the news, losing 80 cents to $9.85 on the Toronto stock market, down from $11.20 before the original recall was announced last week.
The weekend expansion of the recall followed a joint U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture inspection of the Castleberry's canning plant in Augusta, Ga.
The plant was entirely shut down Saturday until health authorities clear it for renewed production.
Exposure to botulinum toxin can be fatal and two people in Texas and two in Indiana remain seriously ill with botulism poisoning linked to Castleberry's Hot Dog Chili Sauce.
The expanded recall includes Great Value chili sold at Wal-Mart stores in Canada, along with more than 80 other varieties of potentially undercooked human food products _ up from 10 in the original recall _ and four types of dog food.
Castleberry's senior vice-president Dave Melbourne said Monday that Great Value Chili was the only affected product sold in Canada.
The other goods covered by the recall include 15 Castleberry's-branded product and dozens of others, mostly involving chili, hotdogs and beans, under store brands and other names including Bryan, Bunker Hill, Cattle Drive, Firefighters, Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly, Southern Home and Steak 'n Shake.
Also named are Natural Balance Eatables dog food varieties Irish Stew with Beef, Chinese Take Out with Sauce with Vegetables and Chicken, Southern Style Dumplings with Gravy, Chicken and Vegetables, and Hobo Chili with Chicken Pasta.
The original recall covered production between April 30 and May 22, but this has been expanded to include all products from the suspect production line for the past two years.
This was done "to add an additional layer of safety and ensure the highest possible protection ... although no new botulism cases have been reported,'' Melbourne said.
"We believe we have isolated the issue to a situation of under-processing on one line of our production facility,'' stated Steve Mavity, head of quality assurance for Castleberry's.
"As an extra precaution to the recall we announced on Wednesday, we have shut down this line altogether and are recalling all products produced on it.''
Melbourne couldn't specify the volume of food involved in the recall or what proportion might be tainted, but he said that of 17 samples of chili hotdog sauce tested, 16 were contaminated.
Asked about the processing of food for people and pets on the same production line, Melbourne said "the same equipment is used for the production of both products but they never come in contact. with each other; they're produced at different times; there's a thorough sanitation process that's followed.''
Toronto-based Connors Bros. noted that the products being recalled make up less than four per cent of the annual revenue of the income trust, whose main businesses are in canned fish including Clover Leaf Seafoods, Bumble Bee Foods and Brunswick.
"The estimated impact on the company's financial performance has not yet been determined,'' the trust said.
Symptoms of botulism poisoning begin from six hours to two weeks after consuming contaminated food, the FDA said. Symptoms include double vision, blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, and weakness that starts in the shoulders and moves progressively down the body. It can cause fatal paralysis of the breathing muscles.
Asked how long the 450-employee Georgia plant will be closed, Melbourne replied: "We are communicating to the employees it's for the week,'' but this depends on approval by health inspectors.
