Federal food inspectors told to ignore contamination on carcaases not bound for Japan

According to documents obtained by CTV News, Canadian meat inspectors were told to "ignore" contamination on carcasses for domestic consumption but to inspect meat bound for Japan extra carefully.

According to memos sent to inspectors at XL Foods, the plant subject recently to Canada's largest ever beef recall, federal meat inspectors were told to give extra scrutiny for visible and intestinal contamination of the carcasses if the meat was bound for Japan but the contamination could be ignored for meat bound for Canadian consumers.

A memo issued on Sept. 12, 2008 reads:

“Our number 1 priority is to ensure this standard is met with Japan eligible carcasses.When stationed at this position, ensure that non Japan eligible carcasses are not inspected for spinal cord/dura-mater, OCD [other carcass defects] and minor ingesta (Ignore them).”

The memo was sent again to inspectors in 20010 and 2011.

The memo said that contaminants would be detected later in the process. However, the inspector's union told CTV that the position referred to in the memo is at the end of the inspection line.

In early November, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency again cited XL Foods for failing to sufficiently clean meat-cutting areas. The firm also allowed condensation to form on pipes in the tripe room and did not have a high enough temperature of water in a sanitizer. There was also no sanitizer solution at all in mats used to clean employees' boots. A government bulletin said:

“The CFIA instructed plant management to take immediate action to address these concerns. In addition, the CFIA requested the company submit corrective action plans outlining how they will address these issues in the longer term and mitigate future risks.”

The CFIA reports that XL has already corrected immediate problems. A corrective action plan submitted by the company is under review. Now for the rest of the story, which seems not even a subject of debate.

XL Foods reached a deal with JBS in October. The Brazilian-controlled company is the world's largest animal protein processor. JBS will operate the feedlots and processing plants of XL Foods with an option to buy. Bill Rupp, president of JBS's U.S. division said:

“We know full well the commitment it takes to manage world-class operations that produce safe and nutritious products. We believe our experienced team will provide an invaluable asset in the management of XL Lakeside and we look forward to to exploring our options to purchase XL assets in the near future.”

The deal gives JBS an exclusive option to buy the Brooks operations, and packing facilities in Calgary, Omaha, Nebraska and Nampa, Idaho for $100 million. JBS said that under no conditions would JBS assume any XL Foods' debt or liabilities.

Commenting on the decision Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said:“While this is a private business decision, Canadian consumers can be assured the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will enforce the same rigorous food safety standards at the Lakeside facility regardless of the management." Officials of Nilsson Bros Inc., who own XL Foods, could not be reached for comment.

The president of the union local that represents most plant employees welcomed the announcement. He said.

“I’m not normally in favour of foreign control and ownership, but the Nilsson brothers were in over their heads.They can go back to running their ranches now and leave the operation of this plant to someone who knows what they’re doing.”

However, JBS USA has had its own problems with e coli recalls:

On June 24, 2009 the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced that JBS Swift Beef Company, a Greeley, Colo. establishment, recalled approximately 41,280 pounds of beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. By June 30, the recall had risen to over 421,000 pounds

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As seen on the video, Bill Rupp of JSB USA thinks that the role of inspection falls on the company not on the government. Gerry Ritz along with the union boss are all relieved that the new boss has such a positive view of food safety, in spite of the fact that this same company has itself been charged in the U.S. and has already had to rectify conditions in the plant it is now running.

Notice that it is U.S. cattlemen who oppose the purchase. Conservative politicians in Alberta, the union head, the minister of agriculture, all applaud the sale.

XL plant in Brooks did not follow all safety protocols properly

The XL plant in Brooks, Alberta, at the center of the huge beef recall in Canada, was not following some safety procedures properly according to the head of the Canadian Food Inspection agency. Some beef at the plant was contaminated with E. coli.

George Da Pont, head of the CFIA, claimed that the XL plant did not always follow the "bracketing" procedure that is called for when traces of contaminants are found. The agriculture minister Gerry Ritz described the process as follows:

"When we find a shipment that has a contaminant like E. coli, such as we've found, we do what's called bracketing. And we take out the shipment ahead of it and the shipment behind it and search those out, and everything is brought back. That's the safety valve."

According to Da Pont the XL plant at Brooks Alberta did not always follow the bracketing procedure.:

"What we found is that the plant was not doing appropriate trend analysis when they had spikes [in E. coli] the previous week.We found that there were, when we did the further investigations, a few instances where the bracketing process that the minister described was not properly followed... Specifically, it seems that there were a few instances that we could document where they did not divert either the [carcass] before or after."

Da Pont also complained that the CFIA did not have the power to compel the company to quickly hand over records. The agency wanted test results and distribution information for products that were made on the same day as the E. coli tainted meat. The agency asked for the information on September 6 but did not receive it until four days later. U.S. officials also found samples of beef at the border contained E. coli and had alerted the CFIA.

The CFIA banned XL Foods from shipping any meat to the U.S. on Sept. 13 but did not inform the Canadian public until September 16. Agriculture minister Ritz defended his inspectors at the plant saying that they had done a terrific job up to now.

The inspection agency has 40 inspectors and 6 veterinarians at the plant but it is a huge operation. The recall has already involved 1,500 products in every province and territory of Canada and 41 U.S. states. The plant involved apparently failed to follow at least five other protocols beyond the "bracketing" process. The other protocols involved sanitation and maintenance issues.

A spokesperson for the union in the plant, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401, said that workers had been processing too many carcasses, too quickly. Tom Hesse said: “You can’t do that much work in that short a period of time without worker and public safety being compromised."

A spokesperson for the government meat inspector's union, PSAC, said that the government's $56 million in cuts to the CFIA in the present budget will result in the loss of 100 meat inspection jobs across Canada. The spokesperson said:

“There has been a systemic change in the way inspections are done in these large facilities. Most of the inspection sampling, the day-to-day work that was done in the past by CFIA inspectors, is now done by plant personnel.”

The first inspection seems to be left to workers employed by the plant rather than independent government inspectors. The results of this loosening of regulations and lax enforcement of protocols will result in a costly loss of reputation for Canadian beef. Perhaps it is time as well to move away from huge facilities such as that in Brooks employing more than 2,200 people and processing huge amounts of beef. Size may be good for profits but bad for safety. If there is a problem, the amount of product involved can be huge.

Canadian Beef Recall from Alberta plant extended

For the fourth day in a row, the most extensive beef recall in Canadian history has been extended. Beef from an XL Foods plant in Brooks Alberta has been contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

The recall has been expanded in the province of British Columbia. Twenty retail chains in the province have pulled products from their shelves as a result of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency expanding the recall from the XL Food plant.

The huge recall has resulted in more than 500 products at thousands of different retail outlets being pulled recently. Consumers are being warned not to consume, sell, or serve the meat. even though cooking the beef well will kill the bacteria. Experts say it is still safer to throw out suspect meat. The products were manufactured at the XL plant in Brooks Alberta on August 24, 27th through to the 29th and September 5. The overall list of suspect products is now so long that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency advises consumers to ask their grocers directly if beef came from the XL plant.

Four Albertans are confirmed ill as a result of the E. coli contamination and five others are still being investigated. So far there have been no reported cases in neighboring B.C.

The XL Foods plant is a large operation. Kevin Boon, who is general manager of the B.C. Cattlemen's Association, estimates fully half of the beef produced in the province is shipped to the XL plant in Alberta.

The E. coli was first detected in the Brooks Alberta plant on Sept. 4. It took three weeks before the CFIA suspended the plant's operating licence while safety procedures were updated. Opposition parties in parliament questioned the Conservative government's response to the contamination.

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae asked during question period:

“If the Canadian consumer is so much at the forefront of the government’s concern, can the government please explain why it was that the Canadian consumer in Alberta and elsewhere was not informed for a two full weeks by the government of Canada with respect to the problems at XL?”

The leader of the NDP, the official opposition, Thomas Mulcair, pointed out that the same agriculture minister was in charge during a 2008 listeriosis outbreak that killed more than 20 people. He also blamed budget cuts to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for the situation:

“Why are the Conservatives continuing to claim there are not cuts, when their own financial documents say just the opposite? Are their financial documents not accurate?”

“This is the same minister who manhandled the listeriosis outbreak in 2008 and joked about “death by a thousand cold cuts.” It wasn’t funny then and it’s not funny now. Is this the best they’ve got to offer Canadians who are worried whether the food they’re giving their kids is safe?”

Ritz later apologized for his joke. The Conservative government defended Ritz claiming that he was working sincerely to ensure the safety of meat and that there would be more food inspectors and meat inspectors.The budget of the Food Inspection Agency was recently cut. It is difficult to see how they will be able to have more inspectors without increasing the budget of the agency. However the government claims to have hired more inspectors and increased the budget since they have come to power. While that may be true, it may be spinning the data since in the latest budget there are cuts to the budget of the agency. as pointed out by the NDP leader.

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