Among the measures to be put in place are a mandatory testing of countertops, meat slicers and other facility surfaces and non-contact sections like walls, ceilings and drains at a minimum frequency of once every seven days.
There will also be a compulsory testing of ready-to-eat products by Canadian Food Inspection Agency staff thrice a year and food quarantines and listeria testings every time surface examinations would yield two positive results.
It will also bring back an old rule which required food firms to report to the CFIA a trend of positive listeria findings.
The stringent regulations are the result of 20 elderly deaths caused by listeria contamination in the processed meat products of 100-year old Maple Leaf Foods. Because of the outbreak which caused massive financial losses to the Toronto-based meat company, Maple Leaf appointed Randall Huffman as the company's first chief food safety officer.
Huffman, the incumbent president of the American Meat Institute, will assume the new position on Jan. 5. He holds a doctor's and master's degree in meat and animal science.
