Cheese produced at an Ontario plant has been added to the long list of products feared tainted with the potentially deadly Listeria bacteria.
The latest addition comes just one day after Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed to launch an independent investigation designed to prevent similar outbreaks in the future.
Several products from Ivanhoe Cheese Inc. in Madoc, Ont. are now on the recall list, The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Thursday.
The products have best-before dates from Feb. 20 to March 1, 2009. They were sold between Aug. 20 and Sept. 3.
The potentially at risk products have the brand names Ivanhoe, Great Canadian, Iqbal Products, according to the CFIA website.
The varieties of cheese at risk include cheddar, marble (brick and cheddar), asiago, gouda, Swiss, Parmesan, Mozzerella, Havarti, Colby, Brick, and various feta package sizes.
The products were distributed to Ontario retail stores and may have also been sold at deli counters.
The CFIA has not suggested there is a link between the latest recall products and a deadly listeriosis outbreak linked to tainted meat from a Maple Leaf plant in Toronto.
"We do routinely issue alerts throughout the year for Listeria," CFIA spokesperson Garfield Balsom told CTV Newsnet on Thursday.
"Coming on the heels of the Maple Leaf outbreak it seems a bit intense. We would have to look at the long term processes to see if there are any trends developing here ... every warning now is probably getting more attention."
The Maple Leaf outbreak has been linked to the deaths of 13 people nationwide.
Products still in stores
On Wednesday, Maple Leaf products that had been recalled over listeriosis fears, were found on the shelves in at least two Montreal stores.
CTV Montreal found a box of Hygrade pepperoni sticks -- included in the recall list -- at a convenience store. The owner said his family had purchased the products from a supplier about two weeks ago, but he had not been told it should be taken off the shelves.
"At another convenience store, CTV Montreal found Shopsy's pepperoni sticks that had also been included in the recall list. Their product code had "97B" -- linking it to the Maple Leaf Foods plant in Ontario that has been linked to the outbreak.
