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.

Food safety watchdog restores operating licence for XL Foods plant

By The Canadian Press - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 at 11:31 AM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – The southern Alberta meat-packing plant at the centre of a massive recall of tainted beef is back in business.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it has lifted its suspension of the operating licence for the XL Foods plant in Brooks, Alta.

The agency says the plant will be allowed to “progressively resume” slaughter and meat-processing operations.

It says those operations will proceed under enhanced surveillance by food-safety officials and increased testing protocols.

The agency says additional inspectors will stay at plant to monitor procedures and ensure strengthened food safety controls are being integrated into daily plant practices.

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.

Food for thought on CFIA and tainted beef: Maybe the system actually works?

By macleans.ca - Friday, October 19, 2012 at 3:34 PM - 0 Comments

CHRIS WATTIE/REUTERS

Here’s a random example of the kind of thing middle-class food purchasers like to hear these days, taken from the website of a restaurant on the Prairies: “Comfort and familiarity are combined with sophistication in the food, drinks and atmosphere alike. Food and drink preparation in an open kitchen provides an engaging and unique environment in which guests can connect with the food as well as each other. And it’s food you can feel good about—[we use] sustainable and local ingredients whenever possible.”

There’s a powerful desire afoot for “food you can feel good about,” perhaps all the more so because of the headlines about meat processor XL Foods and its problems with a harmful strain of the bacterium E. coli. XL Foods is the country’s second-largest meat packer and exports beef to more than 20 countries. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) found E. coli O157 in a sample from XL Foods on Sept. 4 and began to organize corrective measures. On Sept. 13, two people were reported by the national Public Health Agency to have come down with bacterial illness traceable to the plant. The largest beef recall in Canada’s history began as fear spread through the country, and the Toronto Star declared that the Conservative federal government was having its “Walkerton moment.”

A couple of weeks later, with the XL plant in Brooks, Alta., hoping to meet CFIA standards and reopen shortly, one has to say that if this is the kind of Walkerton moment we can expect these days, somebody must be doing something right. The Walkerton water calamity sickened 2,500 residents of the Ontario town and killed seven of them. XL Foods’ bad beef has affected 15 people, and all are alive and well.

In the meantime, much of the terror of industrialized capitalist deathburgers inspired by local reporting on E. coli cases has turned out to be somewhat fanciful. Saskatchewan had a spike in E. coli O157 cases beginning in late August, encountering a surprising 15 cases. Officials feared a link to the recalled meat from XL Foods. Had a corporate behemoth from Alberta caused devastation in a neighbouring province? As it turns out, no. In all cases, the offending bacteria had a different genetic fingerprint, which ruled out XL as a source. Four of the illnesses were caused by undercooked or otherwise improperly handled food in one household. Another eight were attributed to the Flip Eatery in downtown Regina, which had to close for a couple of weeks and undergo an investigation by Regina-Qu’Appelle Health Region officials. You’ve probably guessed that Flip is the home of the “sustainable and local” food “you can feel good about” we mentioned before.

Here’s what Canada should really feel good about: it apparently has no worse news than the XL recall with which to consume column inches and time in question period. Some vendor at this year’s annual fair in Cleveland County, S.C., which ended Oct. 7, infected at least 38 people with E. coli. That included a two-year-old, who died, and at least seven more people whose kidneys have failed; three have had to be placed on dialysis. That outbreak has, thus far, gotten a grand total of 88 words of coverage in the New York Times. No one is suggesting a failure on any level of government. Indeed, the American food safety system, because it detected and stopped XL Foods’ tainted beef at the border, is being upheld by the parliamentary Opposition as a model for ours.

Our system is probably best judged by its overall results, and, as it happens, they suggest the exact opposite of a chaotic, crumbling food-safety apparatus. The Public Health Agency’s national enteric surveillance program tracks E. coli O157 cases across the country. Since 2006, when the CFIA introduced a new “compliance verification system” (and the Conservatives were elected), the totals have plunged from over 900 in 2006 and 2007 to fewer than 500 in 2010 and 2011. Over the past decade as a whole, the reported rate of infections has declined by almost two-thirds. So maybe, just maybe, the system works?

Test samples from XL Foods: E. coli free

By The Canadian Press - Friday, October 19, 2012 at 3:27 PM - 0 Comments

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says test samples from meat processed during an inspection at a troubled Alberta beef plant are negative for E. coli.

CFIA spokesman Paul Mayers says the agency is now looking at the actual work done during the inspection.

“The CFIA is now reviewing its observations of deboning and cutting activities, specific E. coli controls, meat hygiene, sampling techniques and overall sanitation in the plant,” Mayers said during a teleconference Friday.

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

“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.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada said one more case of E. coli poisoning has been linked to meat from the plant — bringing the total to 16. The person from Quebec became ill in September but is recovering.

More than 1,800 beef products that originated at the Brooks plant have been recalled from dozens of retailers in Canada and the United States since last month.

Brazilian food giant JBS to manage Alberta’s XL Foods plant

By Emily Senger - Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 10:23 AM - 0 Comments

Brazilian meat processing giant JBS is set to begin managing the XL Foods beef plant in Brooks, Alta., which has been closed since Sept. 27, when beef tainted with E. coli bacteria prompted the largest recall in Canadian history.

JBS will also have the opportunity to buy the Canadian and U.S. operations of XL Foods for $50 million, plus another $50 million in shares, reports Reuters.

Adding XL Foods to its operations would be just the latest in a series of aquisitions for JBS, which has become the world’s largest meat company.

Just how big is the company? According to its website, Brazilian parent company JBS SA owns no fewer than:

• 12 meat brands (including fresh and processed chicken, lamb, beef and pork)
• 8 dairy brands
• 1 brand each of: leather, canning, collagen, biodiesel, shipping
• 2 vegetable brands

JBS operates in 21 countries including: Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Australia, the USA, Uruguay, Paraguay, Mexico, China and Russia.

In the United States, JBS USA processes under the brands:

• Swift and Company
• G.F. Swift 1855 Brand Premium Beef
• Aspen Ridge Natural Beef
• Swift Premium Black Angus
• Cedar River Farm
• American Reserve
• Showcase Supreme
• Steakhouse Classic
• Packerland
• Angus Select
• Certified Angus Beef
• Liberty Bell
• Moyer
• Clear River Farms
• Blue Ribbon Beef

Having an international giant take over a Canadian-run company is bittersweet, vice-chairman of Alberta Beef Producers Dave Solverson told the Edmonton Journal.

“This is good news for our industry, but I have mixed feelings because XL foods was a dynamic Canadian company run by some guys who I know were really trying hard,” Solverson told the Edmonton Journal. “When the recalls moved from ground beef to muscle cuts (steaks, roasts and ribs), it was unprecedented. I don’t think they could come back from that.”

A change in management may also be good news for the 2,000 employees at XL Foods, who remain without work as the plant is closed.

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.

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

XL beef to process some meat for testing; but none is to leave plant

By The Canadian Press - Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 12:38 PM - 0 Comments

OTTAWA – The Alberta plant at the centre of an E. coli scare is being allowed to resume limited operations.

But the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says no meat will leave the XL Foods meat packer in Brooks until the agency has approved a full reopening.

The plant was shut down Sept. 27 during an ever-expanding recall of its beef products across Canada and more than 20 other countries, including the United States.

The food inspection agency says the plant is being allowed to process some meat so inspectors can confirm that its E. coli cleanup plan is working.

An agency spokesman says the plant has been cleaned and sanitized.

Harpreet Kochhar says condensation, drainage and ice buildup have also been addressed.

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.

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.

Saskatchewan E. coli not linked to beef from XL Foods, says Ritz

By The Canadian Press - Tuesday, October 9, 2012 at 3:26 PM - 0 Comments

EDMONTON – Canada’s agriculture minister says 13 cases of E. coli reported in Saskatchewan are not linked to the Alberta plant involved in a massive beef recall.

Gerry Ritz says these people don’t have the same strain of E. coli as 11 other Canadians who have gotten sick from meat that is linked to XL Foods Inc.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency staff are in the XL plant in Brooks, Alta., today for a “pre-inspection” to see if the company has fixed problems that forced its closure on Sept. 27.

Those problems included the management of E. coli risk, maintenance and sanitation.

Ritz says the pre-inspection is only the first of a multi-stage process the company must go through before it will be allowed to resume operating and no date has been set for it to reopen.

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

XL Foods beef recall expanded yet again; dozens of products and stores added

By The Canadian Press - Saturday, October 6, 2012 at 8:08 AM - 0 Comments

Click here for the CFIA’s list. 

OTTAWA – The recall list of beef products from the XL Foods plants in Brooks, Alta., has been expanded yet again.

Dozens of meat cuts and stores have been added to the list which now contains hundreds of products and stores across Canada and the United States.

The Alberta government has confirmed that five people fell ill last month from E. coli linked to steaks processed at the XL plant.

And officials are investigating whether a person who got sick from E. coli in Newfoundland is the sixth case linked to XL.

Tests are also being done to find the source of E. coli in four other cases in Alberta, 13 in Saskatchewan and one in British Columbia.

Harpreet Kochhar with the Public Health Agency of Canada told reporters yesterday that XL Foods had a plan in place to battle E. coli, but didn’t follow or update that plan.

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, meanwhile, was under fire the House of Commons again yesterday, with the NDP demanding he apologize to Canadians and resign.

Ritz repeated that food safety remains a priority for the Harper government.

The minister has said the XL plant will not be allowed to reopen until investigators are satisfied it is safe.

SHOW AND TELL: Our visual blog on the largest beef recall in Canadian history

By Amanda Shendruk - Friday, October 5, 2012 at 5:38 AM - 0 Comments

Canada is in the middle of a contamination crisis.
I’m sure you’ve heard by now that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s recall of more than 1,500 beef products from XL Foods is, in fact, the largest beef recall in our country’s history. That’s far from insignificant. But what does “large” mean, really, and how does our current predicament compare to some of the biggest meat recalls in recent history? Let’s look:

Click here for more Show and Tell.

XL Foods will stay shut for now, as class-action suit is expected to grow

By Scaachi Koul - Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 3:22 PM - 0 Comments

Despite rumours to the contrary, Alberta’s XL Foods is closed for business due to tainted meat and isn’t about the reopen any time soon. The XL plant in Brooks, just southeast of Calgary, has a suspended license and won’t get it back until the minister gets written notice that the plant is safe from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

XL has recalled more than 1,700 products in what some are calling the largest recall of meat products ever. The recalls first started in mid-September. The company has remained tight-lipped thus far, even forcing local plant workers to pay attention to media to find out whether they should go to work.

Meanwhile, it’s becoming more likely that there could be even more claimants in a class action law suit over beef tainted with E. coli.

Edmonton man Matthew Harrison alleges he contracted E. coli after eating steak from XL Foods Inc. in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday. XL Foods processed. packaged, and stored the meat.

Harrison says he had severe stomach pain and blood in his stool. He spent three or four days in the hospital.

Harrison’s lawsuit says XL was negligent in ensuring its beef was safe to eat, and didn’t test its beef products adequately. It also says it failed to follow quality control processes and didn’t recall all the tainted beef as soon as the company heard people were getting sick. The suit also claims that XL hid this information from consumers even though they knew how poor the quality control was at the Brooks plant.

Farmers, however, still aren’t using the vaccine because it costs $6 per cow, and there’s no requirement that animals be vaccinated.

Saskatchewan checking spike in E. coli cases to see if linked to beef recall

By The Canadian Press - Tuesday, October 2, 2012 at 3:04 PM - 0 Comments

Saskatchewan is reporting a spike in E. coli cases but is waiting for lab tests before linking them to the massive beef recall from an Alberta plant.

The Ministry of Health says there were 13 reported cases of E. coli infection in the province last month.

The usual number for September is between zero and four.

While the government waits for the results expected later this week, consumers are being warned to cook beef thoroughly and to wash their hands when preparing food.

There has been yet another recall of beef products from Alberta’s XL Foods.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in a health hazard alert released overnight that dozens of additional products, including roasts and sausages, have been added to a long list of recalled beef.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version located the plant in Edmonton.

Any questions?

By Aaron Wherry - Tuesday, October 2, 2012 at 8:11 AM - 0 Comments

After taking 15 questions yesterday from reporters about other topics—John Baird’s speech at the United Nations, Barbara George, Omar Khadr and Rob Anders—Bob Rae suggests his own topic.

Well, that’s not—the issue is—that’s an issue for Mr. Harper to deal with but the specific issue of Mr. Anders’ comments have to be brought to ground.  Is no one interested here in contaminated food? I’m kind of amazed at the questions today. Like you’ve got to—you know, I can’t quite believe the— everybody comes here with an agenda but like is nobody aware of what’s going on? You have a minister of the crown who told us last week that no contaminated food had found its way onto the shelves and now we have a situation where over nine people are sick and a little girl has just had an operation. I mean I would have thought that would be a subject of interest for the media.

The Commons: Ministerial accountability means the minister will hold someone to account

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, October 1, 2012 at 5:08 PM - 0 Comments

The Scene. Peter MacKay held in his right hand a white piece of paper, on which was apparently written everything he needed to know to get him through this odd spot he now found himself in.

With the Prime Minister away from the House, it was apparently Mr. MacKay’s turn to lead the government side. And with Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz also absent, there was apparently no other option but to let the Defence Minister handle the increasingly insistent questions about the handling of the nation’s beef products.

Rising to open QP, Thomas Mulcair alleged two issues: the Agriculture Minister’s earlier suggestion that no contaminated meat had reached store shelves and Mr. Ritz’s claim that there been no cuts to food inspection.

Mr. MacKay stood and assured the House that consumers were the “top priority” and that Mr. Ritz would be holding those responsible for food safety to account.

Mr. Mulcair then elaborated on his two concerns. Referring to the Harper government’s financial planning documents, he noted a budget reduction of $46.6 million over two years and the elimination of 314 jobs at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Mr. MacKay repeated his assurances en francais and then switched to English. “Let us be clear,” the Defence Minister clarified, “under this government we have actually seen an increase in inspectors. We have actually seen 700 food inspectors added to the rolls since 2006, including 170 particular to the subject of meat inspection.”

The Conservatives applauded. Mr. Mulcair was unpersuaded. Continue…