Catheter found in Coaticook ice cream didn't come from the factory, says CFIA
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued a report this week that found no evidence a catheter recently found in a tub of Coaticook brand ice cream originated from the factory.
A Quebec family came across the foreign object, which they at first took for a syringe, in a tub of ice cream bought at a Trois-Rivières grocery store.
Three people had already started eating the ice cream, flavoured with pecans, chocolate and caramel, when one of the guests felt something hard in his mouth. He spit it out and saw it was a piece of a catheter.
The company, Laiterie de Coaticook, contacted the CFIA when the issue first arose earlier this week. CFIA inspectors conducted a two-day investigation at the facility which is in Coaticook, Que., about 160 kilometres east of Montreal.
"There is no reason to conclude that the presence of this foreign material originated from the establishment," the report, a copy of which was given to the company, reads.
The company's president, Jean Provencher, said he's happy with the findings.
"It's a relief to have confirmed that the procedures and equipment in place are adequate in the face of this type of complaint," he said.
The Quebec Ministry of Agriculture and the CFIA are still investigating where the catheter came from.
"The inquiry into the found object is not finished, so we are waiting," said Provencher. "For us, it's an isolated event. How the ministry will analyze it, that's not our business."
