PEOPLE who bought certain organic meat products from a distributor in North Vancouver are being warned by health inspectors to get rid of it, after they turned up potential health risks in the processing plant where the products are made.
The meat recall, issued Monday, covers meat products made by Chilcotin Harvest in Williams Lake and sold under the label "Pasture to Plate" at Ethical Kitchen in North Vancouver.
The meat products weren't made in accordance with proper food safety standards, said Lynn Wilcott, acting program director for food protection services with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control that issued the recall. That could include not ensuring products were at proper temperatures during critical processing steps or not keeping proper records of that, he said.
Inspectors were concerned the lack of controls could allow either botulism or E. coli to grow in the products.
Wilcott said the volume of the meat products is small, and no illnesses have been reported. The recall was issued as a precautionary safety measure, he said.
Because the products have no dates or lot numbers, Wilcott said anyone with the meat products affected by the recall in their fridge or freezer should discard them.
Barbara Schellenberg, owner of Ethical Kitchens, said Tuesday her store is not selling the meat products, which remain in a freezer taped off by health inspectors.
But Shellenberg, whose family also runs the Chilcotin Harvest processing plant, said she doesn't believe there is anything wrong with the meat.
She described the latest inspection and recall as an unnecessary harassment by federal inspectors intent on cracking down on small-scale meat producers.
