Joriki, the co-manufacturer of plant-based milks sold by Danone and Walmart in Canada, has filed for creditor protection.

Documents listed on the website of proposed trustees, Alvarez & Marsal, indicate Joriki filed a notice of intention (NOI) with the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada at the end of December.

In a notice to creditors filed on Friday (3 January), Alvarez & Marsal said Joriki was "not bankrupt" and had "availed itself of a procedure whereby a company, with creditor and court approval, restructures its financial affairs".

The move is intended to provide Joriki "breathing room while it evaluates strategic alternatives", it added.

According to the notice, roughly C$203m ($142m) is owed to hundreds of creditors, ranging from ingredients companies Ingredion and Tate & Lyle Solutions to packaging group Tetra Pak and the Canadian Revenue Agency and Bank of Nova Scotia.

Joriki could not be reached for comment by Just Food at the time of writing.

In October, Canada’s local food regulator concluded the Toronto-based company failed to follow the necessary protocols to prevent a listeria outbreak at one of its production sites in Pickering, Ontario.

In its conclusion to the probe, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said Joriki “did not properly implement environmental swabbing and finished product testing”.

The watchdog was unable to find the main source of contamination but noted this was “not uncommon” for pasteurised products. It added that “cross-contamination could have occurred after processing”.

An investigation into a potential listeria outbreak began in June when the government agency Public Health Ontario notified the CFIA of a listeriosis illness outbreak in the province and evidence of listeria monocytogenes found in a sample of Silk unsweetened coconut milk.

In July, the CFIA confirmed cases of listeria contamination in plant-based milks sold under Danone’s Silk brand and Walmart’s private-label brand Great Value.

It issued a recall on 15 Silk items, including almond, coconut and oat-based milks, plus three Great Value almond-based milks.

The following month, the regulator traced the outbreak to a “dedicated production line” at a facility in Pickering, Ontario, run by Joriki.

In its conclusion to the investigation, the CFIA said the outbreak killed a total of three people.