The Public Health Division of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) took the lead in investigating and managing the outbreak in the province. [...] As part of that commitment, the Chief Medical Officer of Health established the Provincial Listeriosis Outbreak Review Committee to review the way the public health system responded to the outbreak, identify strengths and weaknesses, and make recommendations to improve the management of outbreaks caused by foodborne illnesses. [...] The sources of the Listeria contamination that cause outbreaks are particularly difficult to identify because of the nature of the Listeria bacteria, the non-specific symptoms of listeriosis and the long incubation period. [...] The role of the public health system is to protect public health, while the role of the CFIA is to ensure the safety of the food supply. [...] In the case of the listeriosis outbreak, positive test results from opened packages of meat were enough to trigger public health units and the Chief Medical Officer of Health to require long-term care homes to hold the product, while CFIA needed positive test results from unopened packages of meat to confirm that the source of the contamination was in the plant and to support a wider product recal