Toronto consumers in the market for boneless chicken breasts should steer clear of any unusual deals outside reputable supply chains, police and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warn.
In a release Friday, the Toronto Police Service reported that a tractor trailer carrying pre-packaged chicken was stolen at Paris, Ont. last Wednesday. An investigation led police about 100 km northeast to Toronto, where some of the stolen cargo was found Thursday in an “industrial building.”
However, police also found that “a quantity of boneless, skinless chicken breasts had been opened, re-packaged and then sold to unknown customers.”
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The building in question was not “designed or maintained” for food handling or meat packaging, police said, and it’s not known if the chicken was kept refrigerated, stored or packaged by any industry standards.
Once notified, the CFIA advised that the chicken “could be harmful if ingested,” police said.
According to a report Saturday on CBC, it’s believed over half of the 12,000-kg cargo was sold to other businesses. One person had already been arrested, CBC quoted Toronto police as saying.
Potential consumers should look for a small label on the meat that reads “Wing Zhing Trading Ltd.,” police said. Wing Zhing is the name of a provincially inspected meat processing company based at Etobicoke.
