TORONTO -- Maple Leaf Foods (TSX:MFI) has appointed a chief food safety officer, a first for the company, as they try to recover from a deadly Listeria outbreak.
Bacteria from a Maple Leaf plant in Toronto was linked to the deaths of 20 people in a na-tionwide outbreak.
The company says the chief food safety officer will be responsible for leading Maple Leaf's food safety and quality programs across the country.
Randall Huffman, currently the president of the American Meat Institute, will step into the new role as of Jan. 5.
Huffman has a PhD and a master's degree in meat and animal science and has held a number of advisory positions in the field.
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The position is one of several moves Maple Leaf is taking after sales of their products de-clined by up to 35 per cent following the recall, wiping out 94 per cent of the operating prof-its in its meat division.
