Pesto products pulled from about 1,000 stores
Last updated Aug 5 2005 04:00 PM EDT
CBC News
Quebec's Fontaine SantÈ food producer is pulling a number of pesto and pasta products off shelves in about 1,000 stores across Quebec and Ontario.
Fontaine SantÈ product alert
Fontaine SantÈ, Pesto, Fresh Basil, sold in a 180 g package bearing UPC 7 70333 08100 6 and the best-before dates from 30 AU 05 (August 30, 2005) up to and including 27 SE 05 (September 27, 2005)
Fontaine SantÈ, Pesto Cilantro, sold in a 180 g package bearing UPC 7 70333 08110 5 and the best-before dates from 11 SE 05 (September 11, 2005) up to and including 25 SE 05 (September 25, 2005)
Fontaine SantÈ, Pesto Fusilli Salad, sold in a 350 g package bearing UPC 7 70333 00135 6 and the best-before dates from 3 AU 05 (August 3, 2005) up to and including 17 AU 05 (August 17, 2005)
Fontaine SantÈ, Feta Penne Salad, sold in a 350 g package bearing UPC 7 70333 00125 7 and the best-before dates from 4 AU 05 (August 4, 2005) up to and including 19 AU 05 (August 19, 2005)
Source: Canadian Food Inspection Agency
The company was getting its basil from a grower in Mexico that supplied a restaurant in Mont-Saint-Hillaire, where about 200 people got sick after eating a meal that contained basil.
The basil was contaminated with Cyclospora cayetanensis, a parasite that causes gastrointestinal infections.
Raymond Salloum, of Fontaine SantÈ , says nobody has fallen ill from eating his company's food. But, he says, the company recalled its pesto-based products after an investigation by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency .
"So for us [it's better] not to take any risks. We never had any complaints from our consumers, and we eat the food here every day. We have a hundred employees here in the production site, and they eat the food every day here. We never had any complaints, anybody said anything, anybody felt sick, or whatever. So, just as a precaution, we said 'okay, we'll do this,'" Salloum says.
