The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is conducting a food safety investigation at a dairy in Nova Scotia after receiving recent reports of “off flavoured” milk.
The agency says it has responded to about 20 complaints about Farmers Milk in Bedford, N.S., but the company says there’s no health risk.
Farmers’s parent company, Agropur tells CTV News that people have been complaining that the milk has a chemical taste.
Agropur’s vice-president of communications, Veronique Boileau says the company is doing its own investigation into the matter and there is no indication of any chemical contamination of the milk. So far, it’s believed the issue is limited to the Bedford location and Agropur says it’s not sure what caused the off-flavour.
"Based on what we know this remains isolated to a brief production period,” says Boileau. “What we can confirm is that it's an isolated event and that we are following the situation closely."
In an emailed statement the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says they’re working with the company to conduct the investigation.
“The Agency has received approximately 20 complaints or queries from consumers in Nova Scotia about the product to date. Additional information on the investigation and related complaints are not available at this time.”
“When dealing with potentially unsafe food, the CFIA acts as quickly as possible to collect information and make decisions on follow-up actions, including possible recall of the product. The CFIA recommends that consumers call their doctor iftheythinkhave become sick from consuming a food product.”
In an email, the director of external communications for Sobeys, Jacquelin Corrado says the grocery chain received returns of Farmers Milk in their stores last weekend, but has not received any returns since then.
“We take customer product quality concerns very seriously and take these complaints into review through our internal process, which includes engaging the supplier,” Corrado. “The supplier and the CFIA are looking into the customer complaints and will share updates on their findings. At this time, neither the supplier, nor the CFIA have advised retailers of any health or safety concerns.”
Agropur says its apologizing and anyone with concerns can call its consumer services line to arrange a refund.
A spokesperson for Superstore says he has not heard of any customer complaints about Farmers Milk, and hasn’t had any product returns that he is aware of.
CTV News is not aware of any reports of illness related to the off-flavoured milk and the CFIA says there’s no information available because the matter is still under investigation.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Sarah Ritchie.
