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Health Minister Mark Holland said at an October press conference that Joriki was not adhering to Health Canada’s policies on listeria prevention, including properly conducting environmental swabbing and finished-product testing, prior to the national recall of several Silk and Great Value plant-based milk products on July 8. Plant-based milk products are displayed for sale at a grocery store in Aylmer, Que., on May 26, 2022.
Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press The Canadian beverage packaging company that processed plant-based milk linked to a listeria outbreak has filed for creditor protection as it plans a restructure of the business. Documents from proposal trustees posted on their website Friday show Joriki Inc. filed a notice of intention with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada in Toronto on Dec.
31. Insolvent companies use this mechanism to avoid liquidation and get enough breathing room from creditors so they can keep their business afloat. The documents include a notice to creditors listing more than 100 companies that collectively have claims totalling more than $200 million.
Joriki has three facilities in Canada and one in the U.S., which is owned by a subsidiary.
Public health officials traced a listeria outbreak that sickened 20 people and killed three to the facility in Pickering, Ont., that manufactured the products. A Globe and Mail investigation in December found that an algorithm-based system operated by the CFIA to assess risk at food-production facilities, in order to determine how often they should be inspected, had deemed the site a low risk.
As a result, the facility had not been visited by a CFIA inspector for five years prior to the listeria outbreak, and the 2019 instance was for a matter unrelated to listeria protocols. Asked when the last time an inspector had been at the site to assess listeria protocols, to swab for the bacteria, or to evaluate the company on its food-safety licence requirements, the CFIA could not say. Proposal trustee Alvarez & Marsal Canada states in the letter to creditors that Joriki is not bankrupt but is hoping to “create a stabilized environment” and give the company “breathing room while it evaluates its strategic alternatives.
” Neither the trustees nor company representatives responded to requests for comment. The listeria outbreak that infected at least 20 people in Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Alberta was not mentioned in the notice. Health Minister Mark Holland said at an October press conference that Joriki was not adhering to Health Canada’s policies on listeria prevention, including properly conducting environmental swabbing and finished-product testing, prior to the national recall of several Silk and Great Value plant-based milk products on July 8.
Among the creditors listed are dozens of companies, ranging from packaging services to utilities providers to the Canada Revenue Agency. More than $174 million is owed to The Bank of Nova Scotia. Danone was also included in the list of creditors, with claims of more than $200,000.
A representative for the company did not immediately provide comment before publication Friday afternoon. Joriki, Danone and Walmart Canada are named in a class-action lawsuit launched in Quebec by LPC Avocats over the listeria outbreak. The lawsuit has not yet been certified by a judge.
With files from Grant Robertson and Kathryn Blaze Baum.
