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NEWS: Rap song causes safety stir among local Chinese community 3
n Foody World has been temporarily shut down after six cases of the deadly food poisoning disease Listeriosis was found to have originated from processed meats from the supermarket in the north of the city. One of the customers, who had underlying health conditions, died last week.
Death linked to food bug Six Listeria cases traced to store by health chiefs date back to July ALANCAMPBELL Staff Reporter
ACAMPBELL@RICHMOND-NEWS.COM
A
n outbreak of the potentially deadly Listeriosis disease at a Richmond grocery store - which is linked to the death of a customer – can be traced back three months. On the weekend, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) issued a warning that six people had been hospitalized after eating processed meat from Foody World in north Richmond, which has been temporarily shut down. One of the six died last week, but VCH said it won’t be possible to confirm if the death was caused by the outbreak as the person in question had “underlying health conditions.” However, the Richmond News learned on Tuesday that the first two cases of Listeriosis were reported and confirmed in late July,
with another two in August and two more in October. It was only last Friday, Oct. 14, that health officials were able to finally narrow it down to Foody World on Sexsmith Road, near Garden City Road and Sea Island Way. “The incubation period for (the Listeria bacteria) could be a couple of months, so it’s difficult to investigate,” explained Claudia Kurzac, VCH’s manager for environmental health programs in Richmond. A number of stores were named as being used by people in the first few cases that were reported, said Kurzac, making it problematic to accurately trace the source of the outbreak. “Foody World came up, but so did many others and we had to look into all the others, as well,” she said. “In early October, the fifth case was reported and only then were we able to narrow
it down to Foody World. “On Oct. 7, we carried out a detailed inspection of Foody World; preliminary results took a week and on the 14th we had it confirmed to be Foody World.” The sixth case, said Kurzac, was reported between Oct. 7 and 14, and it was that person who subsequently died. None of the other five is still in hospital, as far as Kurzac is aware. It’s understood that the customers affected had all consumed processed meat, in particular pork and beef, from the store over the last few months. VCH has warned customers of the store not to consume any produce or ready-to-eat foods made in-house at Foody World. Potentially contaminated items include: All ready-to-eat meat products such as See Health chief page 4
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