Much Is Still Unknown as Listeria Again Takes Canadian Lives

When it was announced this week that two people had died from listeriosis after consuming plant-based milk alternatives sold by the French food giant Danone, I immediately thought of the listeria outbreak that peaked during 2008, in which cold cuts made by Maple Leaf Foods killed 22 people in one of Canada’s worst food safety disasters in recent years.

Neither Danone nor the Canadian government will say what company made the nondairy milk linked to two deaths.Credit…Benoit Tessier/Reuters

[Read: Listeria in Milk Alternatives Kills Two Canadians and Sickens 10 More]

As in the Maple Leaf Foods case, the first infection related to Silk and Great Value nondairy milk drinks happened almost a year before the recall, which was issued this month. But there’s also a stark contrast to 2008 in terms of what the public knows about the deadly outbreak, which has also sickened at least 10 people.

While later inquiries found fault with Maple Leaf’s many missteps, Michael McCain, the company’s president and chief executive at the time of the crisis, held regular news conferences to acknowledge the company’s mistakes and to detail its efforts to clean up the production plants that had produced the tainted cold cuts.

Danone has not held a news conference regarding the deaths linked to its products. Its communications have been limited to two news releases, a concise online statement and some social media posts about the recall.

And a fundamental fact about the outbreak remains a mystery, at least to the public. Neither Danone nor any federal government department will identify the third-party company that produced the tainted drinks or the exact location of the factory.