Maple Leaf paired together with Matchstick - a Toronto based word of mouth marketing company that is a member of WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) and put together the Maple Leaf Roundtable event.  It was wonderful meeting so many lovely new people including my email buddy Sumaya from Matchstick, as well as Jeanette Jones Vice President, Communications for Maple Leaf and Sharon Beais Senior VP, Food Safety & Quality Assurance, and some fantastic Vancouver bloggers!
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Everyone was so warm and friendly, I immediately felt comfortable even though I did not know anyone prior to attending the event.  The dinner was held at Quince Cooking School.  It was a cute place.
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We started the evening with some mingling and appetizers.
This appetizer included a slice of Maple Leaf’s Natural Selections Oven Roasted Turkey Breast.
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The re-sealable packaging on the Natural selections was a crowd pleaser.  J  One less baggie in the garbage is definitely a good thing!

Next we sat down and Sharon talked with us about Maple Leaf’s commitment to becoming a global leader in food safety as a result of what occurred in August, 2008 and the Listeriosis illnesses and tragic deaths that were linked to their products.
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What stood out most to me was the commitment Maple Leaf has made to become a transparent company, and in their words do what is right.  They take the deaths linked to their products seriously and are looking to reach out to the community, admitting mistake, and wanting to do everything in their power to prevent an outbreak from re-occurring.  We were able to learn about the length of what they have gone through as a company in terms of replacing $20 million in infrastructure, intensive cleaning practices, piloting new food safety programs such as Sistem, and working towards their goals of becoming GFSI and BRC certified.
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It is my hope that in their transformation they are successful in educating others, both individuals and companies, to be as safe with food as possible and prevent future deaths.  While Sharon talked with us and answered the group’s questions we enjoyed a loaf of Dempster’s vacuumed sealed baguette.
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It was served with garlic, butter, and asiago cheese, yum!

We also learned about Maple Leaf’s Think Food program and the $12 million investment in their culinary division, rendering a stunning place to collaborate recipe testing.
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For dinner we enjoyed Maple Leaf’s Prime stuffed chicken breasts.
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Here are a few group shots
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It was a great time and my favorite part of course was meeting such delightful people!
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Erica Co-Author of The Survival Guide for Rookie Moms and myself
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Naomi of Monkee Mama and Erica.

There are so many new blogs I look forward to checking out and sharing with you in the near future!  Thank you for a fun evening Maple Leaf and Matchstick!

 

Now, on to the giveaway!!!
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This giveaway bag that Maple Leaf has provided for one of you includes Dempster’s Baguettes in both white and multigrain, an apron, coupons, a digital meat thermometer (no more under or over cooking your food!), an apron, and my favorite part, the bag itself!  It is a cute insulated bag great for helping keep food cold.  I think you’ll enjoy using it this summer the next time you want to make sure the ice cream makes it home safe from the grocery store ;-)

To enter all you have to do is leave a comment!

Are you a Multigrain lover or is it White Bread that has your heart?

The giveaway will be open until 12 noon (Pacific Time) on Monday May 24, the winner will be picked randomly and will be announced first thing Tuesday morning, so be sure to check back and see if you have won!
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Comments

Amber Smith
05/20/2010 6:25am

Hi, thanks for the chance to win. I agree, the bag is too cute for words :)
asmithonline at yahoo dot ca

Reply
05/20/2010 7:29am

Hello! Looks like an awesome event. I love multigrain breads. I love finding seeds, and other grainy bits when I am eating a slice, or a sandwich. I also love sourdough, and really any freshly baked loaf. Bread, in general, will always have my heart!

Reply
Rhonda
05/20/2010 9:30am

Hello =) I think that it is great that Maple Leaf is not only admiting they mad a mistake but owning up to it and make strides to make there company stronger and more sanitary and concious now!! As well as helping others do the same!!

Reply
05/20/2010 10:43am

Please don't enter me in your giveaway! I just wanted to say hello because I stopped by via Sumaya. I'm one of the Toronto Bloggers who will be going to the Round Table in Toronto and I look forward to it even more after reading your post.
Nice to meet you :)

Reply
05/20/2010 3:14pm

I buy and eat multi-grain on most occassions (cheat night is the exception). However if there were no nutritional difference and life was fair in the waist line department I would induldge in white every time.. Nothing better than a crusty white baggette, a slice of creamy brie and a glass of my favourite red wine to make an evening perfect.. hmmm...now I'm hungry :) GLad to hear what Maple Leaf is doing.

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pat
05/21/2010 1:52am

Sounds like that was a really good event. I applaud Maple Leaf for the efforts to make it right. This is a really smart way to go about it. I enjoyed hearing all about the evening it sounded really fun.

Love Pat

Reply
Dawn Mattice
05/22/2010 4:29am

It sounds like you had a lot of fun. I am glad that the company has worked to turn things around since the outbreak....I learned a lot about that disease when I was pregnant with Ray (I really missed my lunch meat then).

As for the bread, we eat strictly wheat or multi-grain in this house...though that is mainly, in part, due to the fact that we are on WIC and that is what they cover for free bread. ;)

Hmm...being that we are related, I wonder if I can even win this give away. lol

Reply
05/23/2010 10:33pm

OK I don't need to be entered but I just wanted to say GREAT post. Love the pics, well except of the one of me, i'm very unphotogenic it's not the photographers fault! It was great meeting you & I will now be following your awesome blog! Are you on FB or twitter?

Reply
Alicia
05/24/2010 11:29am

Our family loves sprouted whole grain breads for dipping, toasting and eating...most of the time. There is just SOMETHING about a nice white french baguette every now and again!!

Reply
05/24/2010 11:55am

Hi! Please don't enter me I was at the event with you and just wanted to say great post! It was very nice to meet you and I love your blog, you will be listed on my site soon under Vancouver Mommies.

Reply
Susan Margaret
05/24/2010 4:00pm

White bread has my heart! :)

charmtime at gmail dot com

Reply
05/27/2010 6:04am

It was nice to read your post leading into the Toronto dinner with Maple Leaf tonight.

I have posted a link to your blog from mine so my readers can see what happened at your dinner. It looked wonderful.

Reply
06/06/2010 5:08pm

Hello readers! Maple Leaf foods is conducting a survey. If you have a moment I would love for you to fill it out.

Here is the link:
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/308859/feedback

This survey will help Maple Leaf foods understand what improvements they can make for future events based on their feedback.
Thank you very much!

Reply



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