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Salmonella outbreak sees pistachio products pulled off shelves in Ontario

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Pistachios sold in Ontario have come under the microscope amid an ongoing salmonella scare.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has issued a recall for various pistachio and pistachio-related products across the province.

According to a release from the CFIA, East India brand green pistachios, Konscious Kitchen paleo and vegan pistachio bars and raw pistachio kernels from Enayat Farms and have been recalled.

The CFIA notes that “each of those companies are responsible for some, but not necessarily all, of the recalled products.”

The food inspection agency warns the recall also impacts bulk vegan pistachios sold from May 28 to June 5, which are distributed to hotels and restaurants but not sold directly to the public.

The warning advises people not to eat, sell or distribute recalled pistachios and related products.

Salmonella poisoning can cause fever, headache, nausea and abdominal cramps in healthy individuls while young children, pregnant women, seniors and those with weakened immune systems could contract serious and sometimes deadly infections.

The latest recall comes as the CFIA continues an ongoing nationwide investigation involving an outbreak of salmonella related to pistachio products across various provinces.

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Detailed Cellphone Data Used To Track Canadians During The Pandemic

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It seems that big brother really is always watching.

Peoples travel habits were tracked, in detail, by their phones during the past two years of the pandemic.

Trips to grocery stores, liquor stores, pharmacies and other locations were monitored by third parties and shared with a Toronto based company called BlueDot.

What is BlueDot? Via their website and LinkedIN page;

…Using artificial and human intelligence, BlueDot’s outbreak risk platform tracks over 150 infectious diseases globally in 65 languages, around the clock and anticipates their spread and impact. They empower national and international health agencies, hospitals, and businesses to better anticipate, and respond to, emerging threats.

BlueDot was among the first in the world to identify the emerging risk from, and publish a scientific paper on, COVID-19, and delivers regular critical Insights to its partners and customers worldwide to mobilize timely, effective, efficient, coordinated, and measured responses.

BlueDot was founded in 2013 by Dr. Kamran Khan, a practicing infectious disease physician, and Professor of Medicine with the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Toronto. Motivated by his experiences as a frontline healthcare worker during the 2003 Toronto SARS outbreak, Dr. Khan has been studying the outbreak of infectious diseases over the past 15 years to lay the scientific foundation for BlueDot’s early warning system.

Public Health Agency of Canada received data, with redacted personal information, that mapped the travels of individuals and movement habits over the course of the last two years of living with COVID-19.

An ethic committee within parliament received a similar report, as it is looking into cellphone data and how it’s used at Public Health.

This data was used to see how long people were travelling in and away from their neighbourhoods, even over specific time periods (like the Christmas holidays or long weekends) as well as logging specific locations and how many visits that location received.

On May 4, 2022, the ethics committee decided that Canadians should be aware if the federal agency is collecting data and provide an option to opt out.

Canada had originally announced the partnership with BlueDot in March 2020, a timeline of the key events can be read here.

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Outbreak Reported At Kenora No Frills

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A workplace outbreak has been reported in the Kenora health hub area.

The Northwestern Health Unit says three of the active cases came from employees at the No Frills grocery store in Kenora.

They say that despite the positive results, the risk to customers is low as long as proper precautions (such as physical distancing and mask-wearing) were followed.

Despite that, they do tell us that everyone who has been in the store over the past two weeks (since April 15th) should self-monitor for symptoms. If you develop symptoms, you need to self-isolate and get tested.

As is the procedure with all positive test results, the NWHU says that all close contacts of the three cases have already been contacted and have been told to self-isolate.

The regional health authority adds that they will provide more information if they believe the outbreak presents an increased risk to the community.

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NWHU Working To Vaccinate Homeless Population

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The Northwestern Health Unit is working hard to make sure the most vulnerable get their COVID-19 vaccinations.

Medical Officer of Health Doctor Kit Young Hoon explains that includes the transient population.

“We are working to do targeted vaccination of the homeless/transient population,” says Young Hoon, “It’s happening in many communities…it just depends on the ability to reach that population. The effort is focusing on shelters and drop-in centres.”

She tells us that unlike normal vaccine clinics, it’s hard to get exact data on how the effort is going.

“It is a very fluid population so it is about trying to reach them where they are at…that makes it hard to pin down a number.”

Doctor Young Hoon adds that unlike mass vaccination clinics, which are due to start in earnest next week across the province, you shouldn’t expect to hear anything about them beforehand.

“At this point, we are not publicising clinics ahead of time due to security and privacy, especially in these kinds of clinics where the setting is a little more challenging to control.”

The effort comes following a surge of COVID-19 cases among the homeless population in Thunder Bay.

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Investment To Protect Long-Term Care Homes

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Ontario is ramping up protection for long-term care residents and workers.

Premier Doug Ford has unveiled what he calls a robust action plan that includes more money for long-term care homes across the province in case of a COVID-19 outbreak.

“Emergency funding for hiring more staff, restricting non-essential visitors, 24/7 screening of staff and residents and stepping up cleaning measures. We passed an Emergency Order to ensure every employee in long-term care homes can only work in one home.”

Ford says this investment will help protect residents, help reduce the spread of the virus and reduce the risk of potential exposure.

“We will continue to use every tool. We will spare no expense to protect residents and staff and keep them safe and healthy.”

The battle against COVID-19 has shifted to seniors homes, with 93 outbreaks reported across Ontario.

Meantime, the provincial government says they are working with the federal government to ensure small businesses aren’t kicked out of their spaces by landlords who didn’t get paid for the month of April.

Premier Doug Ford says Finance Minister Rod Phillips has been working on this issue with the Feds.

“You have to realize there’s 1.2 million leases just here in Ontario and we need the support of the federal government if we are going to look at this. I encourage the landlords and the tenants, when it comes to Commercial leases, to try and sit down and work it out.”

Ford also suggests small businesses inquire about loans the federal government is providing in the meantime.

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Atikokan Positive COVID-19 Case Stems From Lac Des Iles Mine Outbreak

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The Northwestern Health Unit is providing more details about the new positive COVID-19 case in Atikokan.

Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ian Gemmill says the new case is a part of the outbreak that was reported earlier this week at the Lac Des Iles Mine.

Gemmill also says the person has been in quarantine even before the Northwestern Health Unit contacted them and has followed proper protocols so the risk of other infections in the Atikokan area from this case are almost negligible.

Gemmill says the infected person went into quarantine before they even showed any symptoms.

He also says that the Thunder Bay District Health Unit has been fully engaged with the follow-up since the workplace is in their area and they will be passing along information to the NWHU if anyone else from the region has been exposed to the virus.

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WHO Declares Coronavirus An Emergency

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The World Health Organization is declaring a public health emergency related to the coronavirus outbreak.

Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says it’s not because of what’s happening in China.

“But because of what is happening in other countries. Our greatest concern is the potential of the virus spreading to other countries with weaker health systems.”

There are 98 cases outside China, including three in Canada.

The virus has killed 213 people.

Adhanom Ghebreyesus stresses they are working diligently with their partners to bring this outbreak under control as fast as possible.

He notes one of the challenges right now is stopping the spread of false information about the outbreak.

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Gastro Outbreak Lifted At SLMHC

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The Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre has officially lifted the Gastroenteritis outbreak advisory.

The alert was originally declared at the hospital on October 18th in an effort to minimize the potential spread of the infection.

The hospital confirms that they have resumed regular operations, although advise that hand washing is still important to remember at all times as Gastro is potentially present within the community.

People are also asked to reconsider visiting and booking non-urgent appointments at the hospital if they feel that they can potentially be contagious.

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Gastro Outbreak At Sioux Lookout Hospital

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A Gastroenteritis outbreak has been declared at the Meno Ya Win Health Centre in Sioux Lookout.

As a precautionary measure all elective admissions, non-urgent transfers and social activities at the hospital have been suspended.

The public is being asked to refrain from visiting patients and non-urgent access to health care services is not recommended at this time.

If you must visit, you will have to check in at the nursing desk and you may be asked to wear a gown, gloves and a mask before entering a patient room.

You should also wash you hands or use one of the hand-sanitizing stations located throughout the facility.

All measures are being put into place to protect patients, visitors, staff and physicians.