Beef industry asking Ottawa to approve irradiation to kill dangerous E. coli

By The Canadian Press - Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 4:06 PM - 0 Comments

Canada’s beef industry is about to ask the federal government to approve the use of irradiation in meat-processing plants to kill dangerous E. coli bacteria in a full range of meat products.

The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association says it is updating an application that was first made to Health Canada in 1998 for ground beef, but was turned down because of public concerns.

Irradiation involves bombarding meat with radiant energy similar to X-rays.

Continue…

U.S. agency proposes sweeping new food safety rules

By The Associated Press - Friday, January 4, 2013 at 3:30 PM - 0 Comments

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday proposed the most sweeping food safety rules in decades, requiring farmers and food companies to be more vigilant in the wake of deadly outbreaks in peanuts, cantaloupe and leafy greens.

The long-overdue regulations are aimed at reducing the estimated 3,000 deaths a year in the U.S. from foodborne illness. Just since last summer, outbreaks of listeria in cheese and salmonella in peanut butter, mangoes and cantaloupe have been linked to more than 400 illnesses and as many as seven deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The actual number of those sickened is likely much higher. Continue…

Bovine university

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, November 30, 2012 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

Bruce Cheadle reviews the latest concerns about the food inspection system.

As is often the case, reality is more nuanced than the rhetoric. The XL plant does indeed have a Japan-specific inspection station, Paul Mayers, the CFIA’s vice-president of programs, explained in a conference call. Japan only allows the import of beef from cattle younger than 20 months. Those export carcasses for Japan must be free of elements such as spinal columns, fecal and intestinal materials — conditions that also apply to all Canada’s domestic and export beef. ”Japan … requires that a specific station be present on the line in order to confirm those conditions,” said Mayers. ”Is it necessary in the context of market access? Yes. Is it a requirement from a food safety perspective? No, because that assurance is provided already in terms of the system.”

And that’s where the real debate begins. Malcolm Allen, the NDP agriculture critic, said the Japan station is the last point of inspection. ”In that slaughterhouse there is one station left before it exits the plant and it’s a shower. It gets showered,” fumed the MP. ”The shower will not wash off fecal material. In fact, we have it on authority from one of the chief veterinarians that it actually may just spread it around the meat, in which case the carcass would be even more contaminated than if you just simply cut it off.”

The Commons: Know your cuts of meat

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 5:11 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. For as long as humans have possessed language it has been generally true that few good conversations involve the phrase “fecal contamination.”

Perhaps that’s why the Prime Minister stepped aside this afternoon to let Gerry Ritz respond to the bulk of questions; of the six questions he might’ve otherwise been expect to take, Mr. Harper rose to respond to only two. Or maybe this was some attempt to make up for Mr. Ritz’s initial absence when last the House was seized with the matter of suspect beef.

At issue today was how we handle our cow carcasses: specifically whether our attitude toward the presence of “spinal cord/dura-mater” depends on whether Canadian or Japanese citizens are expected to ingest the resulting hamburgers.

“Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the CFIA has confirmed that meat sold in Canada is as safe as that is exported to other markets, including Japan,” Mr. Harper attempted to reassure the House. “Indeed, it is the Canadian law in this regard.”

Nycole Turmel was unconvinced. Continue…

Questions about beef carcasses

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 1:29 PM - 0 Comments

CTV raises questions about the handling of beef carcasses at the XL Foods plant.

In a statement, CFIA refutes the allegations.

Alberta beef plant at heart of E. coli outbreak resumes production

By The Canadian Press - Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 5:19 AM - 0 Comments

EDMONTON – Production has resumed at the Alberta plant that has been at the heart of a massive beef recall over an E. coli outbreak.

About 2,000 workers were back on the job on Monday.

Mayor Martin Shields said he attended a few events in the town over the weekend and could tell people were more relaxed and positive than they have been in recent weeks.

But Shields said while workers are back, it will be a couple weeks before they get paid again.

He said civic officials will be monitoring that and “looking at what the risks may be for people who may be struggling.”

The CFIA restored the plant’s operating licence last week and also launched a review of the E. coli crisis that made at least 16 people sick.

Management of the plant has been taken over by JBS USA, an American subsidiary of a Brazilian company.

JBS USA has not yet decided if it will exercise its option to buy the plant.

Truckloads of XL Foods beef arriving at landfill in Brooks, Alberta

By The Canadian Press - Monday, October 22, 2012 at 5:09 AM - 0 Comments

BROOKS, Alta. – Truckloads of meat from the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta have begun arriving at a local landfill site for disposal.

Landfill Manager Ray Juska of the Newell Regional Solid Waste Management Authority said the frozen meat stock is being run over by heavy equipment and then covered with soil to keep animals from getting at it.

The operation is being supervised by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The CFIA said last week that X-L Foods would destroy all of the beef involved in a massive E. coli recall in Canada and the United States.

The agency also said that up to 5.5 million kilograms of meat stored at the Brooks plant and warehouses that wasn’t part of the recall would either be rendered or cooked at a high temperature to kill any E. coli.

The XL plant was shut down last month because of the E. coli contamination, and there’s still no indication when it might reopen for business.

CFIA says XL Foods to destroy all beef that was recalled in E. Coli scare

By The Canadian Press - Saturday, October 20, 2012 at 6:45 AM - 0 Comments

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says an Alberta company plans to destroy all of the beef involved in a massive E. coli recall.

“All of the meat that was involved in the recall and has been returned to XL Foods — that product will be destroyed,” Lisa Gauthier, a CFIA spokeswoman said Friday evening.

The recall, which began last month, involves more than 1,800 products across Canada and the U.S.

The agency says up to 5.5 million kilograms of meat stored at the Brooks plant and warehouses that was not part of the recall will either be rendered or cooked at a high temperature to kill any E. coli.

The company can apply to the CFIA to use some of this cooked meat for food products, but it would be done under agency scrutiny.

“If the company chooses to use the high-temperature treatment, the CFIA will oversee the effectiveness of this process and as an extra precautionary measure will test afterwards that the product is safe,” she said.

The agency said it doesn’t know how much recalled beef there is in Canada by weight. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates 1.1 million kilograms of XL Foods beef has been recalled from stores in the United States.

Earlier Friday, the agency said the meat packer may be allowed to send some of the recalled beef to market if it is cooked at a high enough temperature to kill off any possible E. coli.

“It could go to rendering. It could go to landfills or it could go to cooking,” Harpreet Kochhar, a CFIA executive director, said Friday in a teleconference.

“But no meat enters the food supply unless we have actually tested it and we make sure that it is safe.”

CFIA vice-president Paul Mayers said the company must submit a plan to the agency for approval for what it wants to do with the mountain of meat.

The agency also said Friday that tests on beef cut earlier this week at the plant during an inspection came back negative for E. coli.

A strain of the bacteria linked to beef from the XL Foods plant has made 16 people sick in four provinces. The latest case is in Quebec.

Dr. Frank Plummer, chief science officer with the Public Health Agency of Canada, said this particular E. coli strain is unusual.

“This genetic fingerprint of this E. coli 0157 has not been seen before in either Canada or the United States,” he said.

“It is unique and we are very confident that it came from the meat that was contaminated with E. coli in the XL plant.”

The CFIA is now turning an eye to the actual work done during the inspection. That includes reviewing how workers cut and deboned beef carcasses, specific E. coli controls, meat hygiene, sampling techniques and overall sanitation.

“These findings, including a plan for next steps, will be finalized over the weekend,” Mayers said.

“We know everyone is eager to have this work completed — and we are certainly moving ahead as quickly as possible — but must remain focused on the need to protect consumers.”

XL Foods officials were not immediately available for comment.

There is no timeline on when the plant may be able to resume slaughtering cattle or shipping beef to market.

The plant has been closed since Sept. 27. The U.S. has not allowed any beef from XL into the country since Sept. 13.

The CFIA information update came two days after JBS USA announced it had signed a deal to take over management of the troubled XL Foods plant. The agreement includes an option to buy the Brooks facility and other XL Foods operations for US$50 million and US$50 million in JBS shares.

Beef industry officials have estimated that XL has been losing millions of dollars a day since it suspended operations last month and faces the challenge of recapturing the trust of consumers and retailers in Canada, the United States and around the world.

JBS USA, with eight beef plants in the U.S., is a subsidiary of Brazil-based JBS S.A., which calls itself the world’s largest protein company.

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Friday he has met with JBS officials and told them the CFIA will enforce rigorous food safety standards at the XL Foods plant regardless of who manages it.

“Canadian consumers are always our government’s first priority when it comes to food safety,” he said in an email.

CFIA responds

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 3:38 PM - 0 Comments

A statement from the CFIA in response to reports about American audits of the XL Foods plant.

Contrary to assertions made today, Canadian food inspectors do look at the overall conditions of the plant such as how the carcasses are washed and the sanitation of equipment. Inspectors from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) are in federally registered plants during all hours of operation. They verify that companies’ food safety controls are being effectively implemented. If at any time, inspectors observe issues that could threaten food safety, they take immediate action. Maintenance, equipment and general sanitation are all inspected at set frequencies. Our inspectors focus on making sure that the controls needed for safe food are being followed.

Secondly, as trading partners, Canada and the United States regularly audit each other’s food safety systems. The bottom line is that any issues identified in the course of these audits are addressed so that companies can continue to export their products. These audits only capture a snapshot of the situation in a plant, while CFIA inspectors have daily interaction with staff of federally registered meat establishments and make sure that preventive food safety plan is being implemented consistently and effectively.

As well, news reports have only used select information from certain audits and, as a result, paint a misleading picture of Canada’s overall food safety system. For example, reports have highlighted certain graphic examples from a U.S. audit report but failed to explain that the same report noted that the “CFIA and the establishment took immediate and appropriate corrective actions.”

Media reports also fail to mention that the XL Foods Inc. plant at the centre of the current E. coli issue has been audited by foreign countries ten times in the past three years. This plant has remained eligible to export its products up until just recently, which demonstrates foreign countries’ confidence in the facility and the CFIA’s oversight capacity.

Gerry Ritz gets his day in the House

By Aaron Wherry - Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

Glen McGregor reports that between 2003 and 2008, American authorities repeatedly found problems at XL Foods. The plant will now apparently be sold to a Brazilian company. Meanwhile, the House will spend the day debating the following motion.

That, in light of the current contaminated meat scandal at XL Foods; and considering that the Minister of Agriculture has not learned the lesson from the 2008 listeriosis scandal that cost twenty-two Canadians their lives; this House call on the government to restore Canadians’ confidence in Canada’s food safety system by: (a) removing the current minister from office and assigning the food safety portfolio to a minister who can restore public trust; (b) reversing budget cuts and halting the de-regulation of Canada’s food safety system; (c) directing the Auditor General to conduct an immediate assessment of food safety procedures and resources and report his findings to the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Beef recall plant to be taken over by subsidiary of Brazilian company

By The Canadian Press - Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 8:44 PM - 0 Comments

A subsidiary of a Brazilian-based company that calls itself a leading animal protein processor in the U.S. and Australia says it is taking over management of XL Foods, the Alberta-based plant at the heart of the recent beef recall.

JBS USA says the agreement also provides the company an exclusive option to buy the Canadian and U.S. operations of XL Foods.

XL will continue to manage its other Canadian and U.S. operations during the option period.

JBS says in a news release that effective immediately, it will become the manager of XL’s Lakeside plant in Brooks, Alta.

Bill Rupp, president and chief operating officer of JBS USA, says the company knows full well the commitment it takes to manage world-class operations that “produce safe and nutritious products.”

XL Foods has been idle since Sept. 27 over E. coli contamination.

The Commons: Gerry Ritz did not inspect that ground beef

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 5:27 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. Shortly before the farce was laid bare before the House yesterday, Stephen Harper stood and offered an important clarification on the contractual obligations of the Minister of Agriculture.

“Mr. Speaker,” the Prime Minister explained, “it is not the minister who does food inspection; it is the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that does food inspection.”

Indeed, the nation’s conveyor belts are not directed through Gerry Ritz’s Parliament Hill office. Each package of meat, each piece of produce, is not personally stamped by him with his ministerial approval. He does not spend his weekends swabbing for bacteria, or at least he is not required by the standing orders to do so.

Nonetheless, it is the opinion of both the New Democrats and the Liberals that Mr. Ritz should bear some of the blame for the largest beef recall in this country’s history.

“Mr. Speaker, 44 days after the onset of the crisis of contaminated meat, there is still another product recall that has just taken place,” Thomas Mulcair reported this afternoon. “Does the Prime Minister realize that his Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is responsible because it is his program, his way of doing things, that put the lives of Canadians in danger?”

The business of responsible government is a constant debate about what precisely the government is responsible for. Continue…

Updated: Angry birds and silly debate: A Storify

By macleans.ca - Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 4:13 PM - 0 Comments

Angry birds and silly debate

During QP, Carolyn Bennett accused the Health Minister of playing Angry Birds on her iPad rather than taking questions on tainted beef. The Liberal MP asked a question about food safety. Here’s how it all went down:

Storified by Maclean’s Magazine · Wed, Oct 17 2012 13:24:26

The Commons: Not enough time to explain, so don’t bother trying

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, October 15, 2012 at 5:25 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. Conservative MP Dan Albas, still new to this place and apparently not yet exhausted of all ideals, lamented last week that the 35 seconds allotted for each response in Question Period were not nearly sufficient to explain the obviously complicated matters of national governance. “While it is possible to ask a meaningful question in 35 seconds,” he explained, “I am certain most would agree that when it comes to governance, very few answers can be given in such a short timeframe.”

Perhaps this explains why the Harper government has spent tens of millions in public funds on television advertisements to explain itself to the public. Perhaps that’s why Diane Finley, questioned repeatedly in the House about a flaw in her reforms to employment insurance, decided to announce a change in her plans via news release on the Friday afternoon before the House went on break for a week.

For sure, difficult questions are not easily answered. Witness Gerry Ritz, who, for another day, was asked not only to explain why the nation’s food safety system hadn’t prevented 15 people from getting sick, but also if he would just go ahead and resign. Continue…

‘It’s just chaos’

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, October 15, 2012 at 9:00 AM - 0 Comments

Over the weekend XL Foods laid off 2,000 workers, thus bringing a halt to inspections at the plant.

It blamed the decision on the fact the federal government hadn’t given it a firm date for when it would get its license back in order to fully resume operations. “XL Foods is committed to the best interests of the cattle industry, our employees, the city of Brooks and all affected by the idling of the Brooks facility,” Brian Nilsson, co-CEO of XL, said in the news release. “We are hopeful that the CFIA will bring this to a swift and viable resolution.”

Lee Nilsson, fellow co-CEO, also made a pointed reference to the agency in an interview Friday with the Alberta Farmer Express. “I know it’s caused a great amount of turmoil in the beef community. I’d just like to say hang on because all things will pass, but at this point there seems to be an uncertainty as to which direction CFIA is going with regard to E. coli at my plant, or any other plant in the country,” Mr. Nilsson said.

XL Foods then announced that 800 employees would be recalled so that inspections could continue.

Doug O’Halloran, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union local 401, which represents the employees at the plant, said management has bungled the entire situation. ”Again, it’s just chaos, and I guess it begs the question, is there something further wrong with the XL Plant that they’re not sharing, because why would you lay these people off who may go get other jobs if you need these workers when the plant fully reopens?” said O’Halloran. “It doesn’t make any business sense.”

Inspections at beef plant at centre of E.coli outbreak halted amid layoffs

By Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press - Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 4:20 PM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – Federal inspectors and the meat processing company at the centre of an E. coli outbreak have come to an impasse, and the Official Opposition says the agriculture minister should be taking action to break it.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) review of the processing at XL Foods ground to a halt this weekend when the firm announced it was temporarily laying off 2,000 workers.

Continue…

Inspections at beef plant grind to a halt with layoffs

By Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press - Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 3:10 PM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – Federal inspectors and the meat processing company at the centre of an E. coli outbreak have come to an impasse, and the Official Opposition says the agriculture minister should be taking action to break it.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) review of the processing at XL Foods ground to a halt this weekend when the firm announced it was temporarily laying off 2,000 workers.

It blamed the decision on the fact the federal government hadn’t given it a firm date for when it would get its license back in order to fully resume operations.

“XL Foods is committed to the best interests of the cattle industry, our employees, the city of Brooks and all affected by the idling of the Brooks facility,” Brian Nilsson, co-CEO of XL, said in the news release.

“We are hopeful that the CFIA will bring this to a swift and viable resolution.”

Lee Nilsson, fellow co-CEO, also made a pointed reference to the agency in an interview Friday with the Alberta Farmer Express.

“I know it’s caused a great amount of turmoil in the beef community. I’d just like to say hang on because all things will pass, but at this point there seems to be an uncertainty as to which direction CFIA is going with regard to E. coli at my plant, or any other plant in the country,” Nilsson said.

NDP Agriculture critic Malcolm Allen said Sunday that Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz should be stepping in.

“It seems at this stage, with all that’s happened, the minister ought to be requesting to talk to the Nilsson brothers, the head of this corporation, and say, ‘OK, what’s up? What’s happening here?”‘ said Allen.

“We’ve got 2,000 workers who are now unemployed, and we’ve got ranchers across this country who are saying, ‘What’s happening to our beef industry? Where are we with this?’ I think Minister Ritz has to be a little more proactive than simply saying, it’s their decision, nothing I can do.”

The massive layoffs come as food inspectors were halfway through their assessment of XL’s processing of 5,100 beef carcasses already stored at the facility in Brooks, Alta.

CFIA spokesman Guy Gravelle told The Canadian Press that the agency needed to examine all the different ways that the carcasses were handled at every stage of the process, and to ensure that all employees were clear on the proper methods.

But once XL Foods announced the layoffs, that process ended.

“There’s nothing for us to review or inspect,” Gravelle said Sunday.

“Right now it’s on hold, and where it goes from here is totally dependent on the company,” he added.

A spokeswoman for Gerry Ritz said his office had no additional comment or details Sunday, pointing to a statement released Saturday. Ritz called the layoffs a “private sector business decision,” and said his thoughts were with the workers and the community.

“Today’s news does not change our government’s commitment to ensuring safe food for Canadian consumers,” Ritz said in a written statement.

The XL Foods plant is the second-largest meat packer in the country and slaughters and processes more than one-third of Canada’s beef.

The plant’s license was suspended on Sept. 27 after the CFIA determined that food safety controls at XL Foods were inadequate. The agency has also put out food recall notices for products that originated at XL Foods and were distributed across North America.

The president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union local 401, which represents the employees at the plant, called the announcement of layoffs “poor management.”

Doug O’Halloran said that several hundred of the laid off workers may be forced to leave Brooks, which he said would create problems once the CFIA allows XL to resume normal operations.

“One of the problems in the past is that they don’t have enough workers to operate the plant at full speed, and that has caused some of the issues that led to this,” said O’Halloran.

XL Foods says 2,000 workers at Alberta beef plant will be temporarily laid off

By The Canadian Press - Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 7:54 PM - 0 Comments

BROOKS, Alta. – The company whose beef processing plant has been at the centre of a massive recall announced the temporary layoff Saturday of approximately 2,000 people at the facility.

The XL Foods facility has been idle since Sept. 27 while federal officials and the company deal with E. coli contamination that has been linked to 15 illnesses and has involved a recall of its products from across North America.

A company news release says its employees have been receiving full pay for the past three weeks, but the temporary layoffs are necessary because the Canadian Food Inspection Agency can’t indicate when the plant will get its license back.

“We have paid our valued team members out of a commitment to our workforce and to assist them through this difficult time,” Brian Nilsson, co-CEO of XL, said in the news release.

“XL Foods is committed to the best interests of the cattle industry, our employees, the city of Brooks and all affected by the idling of the Brooks facility. We are hopeful that the CFIA will bring this to a swift and viable resolution.”

The CFIA has approved a limited reopening but says no meat will leave the facility until it has approved a full reopening.

Nilsson said getting employees back to work, as well as resuming processing, remain top priorities.

The president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union local 401, which represents the employees at the plant, called the layoffs “poor management.”

Doug O’Halloran said that several hundred of the laid off workers may be forced to leave Brooks, which he said would create problems once the CFIA allows XL to resume normal operations.

“One of the problems in the past is that they don’t have enough workers to operate the plant at full speed, and that has caused some of the issues that led to this,” said O’Halloran.

O’Halloran said the union will begin helping employees apply for employment insurance on Monday. And he said if the layoffs continue beyond a week, the union will look at opening a food bank in Brooks.

On Thursday, the CFIA announced the first stage of what it called a progressive restart of the plant. The agency is allowing workers in the plant to cut meat from 5,100 beef carcasses under increased supervision and tougher E. coli testing standards. No new animals will be slaughtered.

There will be more tests of meat samples and increased monitoring of sanitation and hygiene, the CFIA said.

The CFIA has given no timeline for when the Brooks plant will be allowed to accept cattle again or sell its products across Canada and abroad.

The XL Foods plant is the second-largest meat packer in the country and slaughters and processes more than one-third of Canada’s beef.

CFIA recalls imported salad due to salmonella concerns

By The Canadian Press - Friday, October 12, 2012 at 5:20 AM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – The public is being warned not to eat certain Fresh Express brand Hearts of Romaine salad because it may be contaminated with salmonella bacteria.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the American-made salad is sold in 510 gram packages with a best before date of Oct. 11

This product has been sold in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario but may have been distributed to other provinces and territories.

There are no reported illnesses associated with eating this product.

Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes deadly infectons in young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

The CFIA is working with importers to to remove the product from store shelves.

Some products containing peanut butter recalled due to possible Salmonella

By The Canadian Press - Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 2:07 AM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning the public not to eat some products containing peanut butter because they may be contaminated with Salmonella.

The products under the brand names Harry & David, Wolferman’s, Fairytale and Justin’s may have been sold across Canada through Internet sales from the U.S.

The products range from flavoured peanut butter spreads to gift baskets.

The CFIA says there have been no reported illnesses linked to eating these products.

Food contaminated with Salmonella may not look or smell spoiled but can result in deadly infections for young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

The products have been recalled in the United States and are listed on the CFIA website (http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2012/20121010be.shtml).

Food safety officials review report on conditions inside Alberta beef plant

By The Canadian Press - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 at 4:46 PM - 0 Comments

BROOKS, Alta. – The union for workers at an Alberta beef packer shut down over E. coli concerns says better training and work conditions are required to ensure meat is safe.

Doug O’Halloran, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401, says the speed of the processing line at the XL Foods plant in Brooks is too fast.

O’Halloran told a news conference Wednesday that between 300 and 320 carcasses go by workers on the line every hour. That leaves only two to three seconds to slice the meat and has resulted in less time in which to make sure equipment and meat is clean.

“It’s just not enough time,” O’Halloran said.

“We are calling on Lakeside to take it seriously. You can replace all the aluminum, all the stainless steel you want at the plant, but if you don’t give your workers the tools to perform the job properly, we’re not going to solve this problem.”

O’Halloran said the plant’s increasing reliance on temporary foreign workers is also a problem. The company has not worked with the union to ensure the workers are properly trained and know what their rights are, he added.

The union boss said whistleblower protection is needed for the workers who are afraid to speak out about problems for fear of reprisal.

“Lakeside you’ve got one chance to get this correct. We understand you’re spending lots of money, but you’re still not listening to the people who are the most important in your food safety — the workers who are doing the job.

“They are going to get you through this day and it’s time you woke up and listened to them.”

Also on Wednesday food safety officials were reviewing a report on a pre-inspection of the XL plant.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency staff went through the facility on Tuesday to see if the company has fixed problems that led to a massive international recall of beef products.

Agency spokeswoman Lisa Gauthier said the pre-inspection is just one step in a multi-step process of determining if the plant is safe to resume operating.

The CFIA didn’t receive the report until late Tuesday night, she said, and the agency will carefully review it before commenting. She said that probably would be later this week.

The owners of XL Foods say they have fixed all of the problems that were cited by the food safety agency and will work diligently to deal with any concerns.

What’s going on at XL Foods?

By Aaron Wherry - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 at 4:21 PM - 0 Comments

XL Foods says everything is now fine at its Brooks plant. The union representing the people who work there begs to differ.

“Workers at XL Foods in Brooks want to be part of the solution,” he said in a news release. “They’re going to be back at work in a few days, but nothing has been done to address the issues that led to this problem.”

Mr. O’Halloran, who has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday afternoon in Brooks, Alta., cited concerns relating to training for temporary foreign workers, line speed and a need to protect whistleblowers.

The NDP has just put out a news release reminding everyone that it thinks Gerry Ritz should resign.

Food safety officials review report on conditions inside Alberta beef plant

By The Canadian Press - Wednesday, October 10, 2012 at 12:08 PM - 0 Comments

BROOKS, Alta. – Food safety officials are reviewing a report on a pre-inspection of the Alberta beef plant that is closed over E. coli concerns.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency staff went through the XL Foods plant in Brooks on Tuesday to see if the company has fixed problems that led to a massive international recall of beef products.

Agency spokeswoman Lisa Gauthier says the pre-inspection is just one step in a multi-step process of determining if the plant is safe to resume operating.

She says the CFIA didn’t receive the report until late Tuesday night and the agency will carefully review it before commenting.

The CFIA says it doesn’t know when that will happen, but it is likely to be later this week.

The owners of XL Foods say they have fixed all of the problems that were cited by the food safety agency and will work diligently to deal with any concerns.

XL Foods says safety problems fixed at Alberta beef plant, regrets illnesses

By The Canadian Press - Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 6:44 PM - 0 Comments

EDMONTON – The owners of an Alberta plant behind a massive recall of beef products say they have fixed the problems that forced food safety officials to shut the meat packer down over E. coli concerns.

Brian Nilsson, co-CEO of XL Foods Inc., said the company welcomes Canadian Food Inspection Agency staff who were in Brooks, Alta., on Tuesday for a pre-inspection of the facility that processes more than one-third of Canada’s beef.

“We have worked diligently to address all corrective actions,” Nilsson said in a release.

“We will continue to work co-operatively with the CFIA as they conduct due diligence and verification of our intensified and enhanced food systems.”

Problems cited by inspectors after the CFIA revoked the plant’s operating licence Sept. 27 included management of E. coli risk, maintenance and sanitation. The U.S. stopped accepting shipments of beef from the company Sept. 13.

XL Foods also made reference to people who have become sick from eating beef, but did not directly mention the 11 people in four provinces who were infected by a strain of E. coli that has been linked to the plant.

“All the members of the XL community deeply regret the illnesses caused by the consumption of beef products,” read the release. “Our thoughts are with the affected people at this time.”

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said the pre-inspection is only the first of several stages XL Foods must go through before the plant will be allowed to resume operating. He said no date has been set for it to reopen.

“We want to make sure that this is safe beyond reproach,” he said. “It will not be allowed to reopen until the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed that.”

In recent weeks more than 1,800 XL Foods products have been recalled across Canada along with more than 1.1 million kilograms of beef exported to the U.S. and 20 other countries.

Martin Unrau, president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, said the E. coli scare has given Canadian beef a black eye with some consumers despite what he called the high quality of cattle raised by producers.

Unrau said the plant closure is preventing many of the association’s 83,000 members from sending their prime cattle and older cull cows to market. It has also driven down prices.

As eager as producers are for the XL Foods plant to reopen, Unrau said they want federal inspectors to take the time to ensure the plant is properly following E. coli safety rules.

“Last Thursday I thought it would open this week. Today I don’t think it will,” Unrau said from his cow-calf operation near MacGregor, Man.

“There are a few steps that have to be followed to get things done in a proper manner so consumers once again have the confidence in the product that comes out of that plant.

“We have to ensure that the product produced in that plant is safe.”

Simply allowing the plant to reopen will not solve all of the problems that the XL Foods recall and plant closure have caused the beef industry.

The CFIA and the company must apply to the U.S. government for permission to resume exporting beef from the plant to the key American market.

Officials estimate the Brooks facility sends about 60 per cent of the beef it slaughters to the United States. More than two dozen retails chains in more than 30 states are involved in the beef recall.

Unrau said the beef industry and XL Foods will also have to work to woo back consumers and retail chains that may have become leery of Canadian beef.

“The challenge for us is to get the Americans to be comfortable with the product that we are selling,” he said. “The second thing is ensuring the retail markets that were there before are still there.”

The union that represents 2,000 people who work at the plant has called a news conference for Wednesday to talk about what it calls the desperate need to improve food safety rules.

Doug O’Halloran of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 said issues such as the use of temporary foreign workers and the pace of work at the plant must be dealt with.

“They’re going to be back at work in a few days, but nothing has been done to address the issues that led to this problem,” he said.