Maple Leaf Foods is recalling some of its ham and turkey products amid fears that they may have been tampered with at a southwestern Ontario meat packing plant.

Employees of the company's plant in Kitchener, Ont., discovered empty plastic syringe casings in the plant on three separate occasions over the past three weeks.

Employees at the Kitchener plant discovered syringe casings on three separate occasions, with the latest one found embedded in a ham.
(CBC)

The first two empty casings were found on processing tables on Oct. 24 and Nov. 2, with the latest one found "slightly embedded" in a ham on Nov. 3, Lynda Kuhn, a Maple Leaf Foods spokeswoman, told CBC.

The discovery was made public early Tuesday in a joint statement issued by the company and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Laboratory tests conducted on the casings by an outside company showed they contained trace amounts of a saline-based solution, Kuhn said.

Waterloo Regional Police have been called in to investigate how and why the casings got into the plant.

Insp. Bryan Larkin said the casings found are the kind normally used to flush out a wound. No metal was attached to the casings, said Larkin.

Recall is voluntary: spokeswoman

CFIA safety inspector Garfield Balsom said the agency was informed Sunday evening that an investigation was underway and it later determined some product may have gotten into the stores.

The recall of meat products by Maple Leaf is voluntary, Kuhn said, and is being monitored by the food inspection agency.

"We have no evidence that there has been anything injected into these products, but what we are doing is just asking consumers to return these products to the stores," she said.

Customers who do so will have their money refunded.

There have been no reports of illness associated with the products, which are being pulled off the shelves as a precaution. Products made at the plant are distributed nationally.

Consumers are being warned not to eat:

• The ½ Kent Smoked Hams (approximately one kilogram); best before date JA 01.
• The 125-gram Schneider's Lifestyle Fat Free Cooked Ham Sliced; best before date DE 29.
• The 125-gram Schneider's Lifestyle Fat Free Cooked Ham Sliced; best before date JA 04.
• The 125-gram Schneider's Lifestyle Fat Free Turkey & Ham Sliced; best before date DE 30.
• The 125-gram Schneider's Lifestyle Fat Free Smoked Ham; best before date DE 29.

Products pulled from store shelves have not shown any traces of contamination, Balsom said.

For more information, consumers can call Maple Leaf Foods at 1-800-268-3708 or the CFIA at 1-800-442-2342.

With files from the Canadian Press