Aaron Wherry – Maclean
Aaron Wherry – Maclean’s
Nov. 29, 2012
Aaron Wherry – Maclean’s
Nov. 29, 2012
The Canadian Press
Nov. 29, 2012
OTTAWA – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the same safety standards apply to meat for domestic consumption and for overseas exports and reports to the contrary are “categorically false.”
The embattled federal food safety agency is reacting to a media report that inspectors at the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta., were told to ignore contamination on cattle carcasses unless they were destined for Japan.
A memo to inspectors, dated September 2008, does indeed instruct them to ensure all “Japan-eligible” beef has been 100 per cent verified for removal of fecal, intestinal and spinal cord materials.
The same memo tells inspectors at the “Japan Dura Mater” station on the production line to ignore such contamination for meat that is not destined for Japan.
But a spokeswoman for the agency says the memo was about division of labour and that the Japan inspection station was not the end of the line.
Lisa Gauthier of the CFIA says in a release that there is “zero tolerance for any form of contamination” and that there are multiple points of detection along the processing line.
XL Foods was the scene of the largest beef recall in Canadian history this fall after meat contaminated with E. coli was stopped at the Canadian-American border in September.
People in at least four provinces were found to have been made ill by the E. coli strain and the XL plant only reopened at the end of October.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz issued a release in an effort to assure consumers there is not a two-tier inspection system for domestic and export purposes.
“CFIA continues to ensure the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as meat being exported to other markets — including Japan,” Ritz said.
“CFIA continues to ensure that meat processed in Canada meets our high food safety standards. This is required by law and acknowledged by our global customers as a superior food safety system.”
© The Vancouver Sun
Aaron Wherry – Maclean’s
Nov. 29, 2012
The Canadian Press
Nov. 29, 2012
OTTAWA – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the same safety standards apply to meat for domestic consumption and for overseas exports and reports to the contrary are “categorically false.”
The embattled federal food safety agency is reacting to a media report that inspectors at the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta., were told to ignore contamination on cattle carcasses unless they were destined for Japan.
A memo to inspectors, dated September 2008, does indeed instruct them to ensure all “Japan-eligible” beef has been 100 per cent verified for removal of fecal, intestinal and spinal cord materials.
The same memo tells inspectors at the “Japan Dura Mater” station on the production line to ignore such contamination for meat that is not destined for Japan.
But a spokeswoman for the agency says the memo was about division of labour and that the Japan inspection station was not the end of the line.
Lisa Gauthier of the CFIA says in a release that there is “zero tolerance for any form of contamination” and that there are multiple points of detection along the processing line.
XL Foods was the scene of the largest beef recall in Canadian history this fall after meat contaminated with E. coli was stopped at the Canadian-American border in September.
People in at least four provinces were found to have been made ill by the E. coli strain and the XL plant only reopened at the end of October.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz issued a release in an effort to assure consumers there is not a two-tier inspection system for domestic and export purposes.
“CFIA continues to ensure the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as meat being exported to other markets — including Japan,” Ritz said.
“CFIA continues to ensure that meat processed in Canada meets our high food safety standards. This is required by law and acknowledged by our global customers as a superior food safety system.”
© The Vancouver Sun
The Canadian Press
Nov. 29, 2012
OTTAWA – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the same safety standards apply to meat for domestic consumption and for overseas exports and reports to the contrary are “categorically false.”
The embattled federal food safety agency is reacting to a media report that inspectors at the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta., were told to ignore contamination on cattle carcasses unless they were destined for Japan.
A memo to inspectors, dated September 2008, does indeed instruct them to ensure all “Japan-eligible” beef has been 100 per cent verified for removal of fecal, intestinal and spinal cord materials.
The same memo tells inspectors at the “Japan Dura Mater” station on the production line to ignore such contamination for meat that is not destined for Japan.
But a spokeswoman for the agency says the memo was about division of labour and that the Japan inspection station was not the end of the line.
Lisa Gauthier of the CFIA says in a release that there is “zero tolerance for any form of contamination” and that there are multiple points of detection along the processing line.
XL Foods was the scene of the largest beef recall in Canadian history this fall after meat contaminated with E. coli was stopped at the Canadian-American border in September.
People in at least four provinces were found to have been made ill by the E. coli strain and the XL plant only reopened at the end of October.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz issued a release in an effort to assure consumers there is not a two-tier inspection system for domestic and export purposes.
“CFIA continues to ensure the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as meat being exported to other markets — including Japan,” Ritz said.
“CFIA continues to ensure that meat processed in Canada meets our high food safety standards. This is required by law and acknowledged by our global customers as a superior food safety system.”
Aaron Wherry – Maclean’s
Nov. 29, 2012
The Canadian Press
Nov. 29, 2012
OTTAWA – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the same safety standards apply to meat for domestic consumption and for overseas exports and reports to the contrary are “categorically false.”
The embattled federal food safety agency is reacting to a media report that inspectors at the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta., were told to ignore contamination on cattle carcasses unless they were destined for Japan.
A memo to inspectors, dated September 2008, does indeed instruct them to ensure all “Japan-eligible” beef has been 100 per cent verified for removal of fecal, intestinal and spinal cord materials.
The same memo tells inspectors at the “Japan Dura Mater” station on the production line to ignore such contamination for meat that is not destined for Japan.
But a spokeswoman for the agency says the memo was about division of labour and that the Japan inspection station was not the end of the line.
Lisa Gauthier of the CFIA says in a release that there is “zero tolerance for any form of contamination” and that there are multiple points of detection along the processing line.
XL Foods was the scene of the largest beef recall in Canadian history this fall after meat contaminated with E. coli was stopped at the Canadian-American border in September.
People in at least four provinces were found to have been made ill by the E. coli strain and the XL plant only reopened at the end of October.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz issued a release in an effort to assure consumers there is not a two-tier inspection system for domestic and export purposes.
“CFIA continues to ensure the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as meat being exported to other markets — including Japan,” Ritz said.
“CFIA continues to ensure that meat processed in Canada meets our high food safety standards. This is required by law and acknowledged by our global customers as a superior food safety system.”
© The Vancouver Sun
The Canadian Press
Nov. 29, 2012
OTTAWA – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the same safety standards apply to meat for domestic consumption and for overseas exports and reports to the contrary are “categorically false.”
The embattled federal food safety agency is reacting to a media report that inspectors at the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta., were told to ignore contamination on cattle carcasses unless they were destined for Japan.
A memo to inspectors, dated September 2008, does indeed instruct them to ensure all “Japan-eligible” beef has been 100 per cent verified for removal of fecal, intestinal and spinal cord materials.
The same memo tells inspectors at the “Japan Dura Mater” station on the production line to ignore such contamination for meat that is not destined for Japan.
But a spokeswoman for the agency says the memo was about division of labour and that the Japan inspection station was not the end of the line.
Lisa Gauthier of the CFIA says in a release that there is “zero tolerance for any form of contamination” and that there are multiple points of detection along the processing line.
XL Foods was the scene of the largest beef recall in Canadian history this fall after meat contaminated with E. coli was stopped at the Canadian-American border in September.
People in at least four provinces were found to have been made ill by the E. coli strain and the XL plant only reopened at the end of October.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz issued a release in an effort to assure consumers there is not a two-tier inspection system for domestic and export purposes.
“CFIA continues to ensure the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as meat being exported to other markets — including Japan,” Ritz said.
“CFIA continues to ensure that meat processed in Canada meets our high food safety standards. This is required by law and acknowledged by our global customers as a superior food safety system.”
CTV News
Nov. 29, 2012
The revelation that federal meat inspectors were ordered to ignore carcass contamination at Alberta’s XL Foods plant reverberated on Parliament Hill Thursday, as opposition parties hammered the Conservative government over its handling of the E. coli crisis that sickened 18 people across Canada.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is once again under fire, this time over a Canadian Food Inspection Agency memo that instructed beef inspectors at the plant in Brooks, Alta., to ignore visible fecal and intestinal contamination on carcasses being processed for sale to Canadians.
The 2008 memo obtained by CTV News ordered inspectors to give extra scrutiny to meat being shipped for sale in Japan, however.
“Our number 1 priority is to ensure this standard is met with Japan eligible carcasses,” said the memo, written by a CFIA meat hygiene supervisor at the plant.
The CFIA reversed that policy only two weeks ago, when it sent a new memo telling inspectors to halt the meat production line and remove any spotted contamination on carcasses.
The news exploded in the House of Commons during question period Thursday, as the Conservatives fielded attacks over the CFIA’s 2008 directive. Some called for Ritz’s resignation, saying the minister has repeatedly failed to address food safety issues.
“That minister should have resigned months ago,” said NDP agriculture critic Malcolm Allen.
“We are talking about fecal material — please don’t have me say the other word that begins with an ‘S,’” Allen said at a commons committee. “We’re talking about that on a carcass.”
Liberal MP Frank Valeriote said the RCMP should be called to “investigate what may amount to criminal negligence.”
Ritz and the CFIA denied that there is a two-tiered food safety system in place, saying meat being sold to Canadians was just as thoroughly inspected, but later in the production process.
“The de-contamination system for Canadian consumers, for all other export markets in the world, is further down the line,” Ritz said Thursday.
The president of the federal food inspectors’ union said that’s not true.
Bob Kingston said the meat is later put in a de-contamination shower, but the wash won’t remove feces from carcasses — they have to be cut from the meat.
CFIA President George Da Pont, however, insisted that food safety is the agency’s “number one priority.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper also defended the CFIA and his government’s response to the tainted meat crisis.
“CFIA confirmed the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as exports to other countries,” he said. “There are strict food safety standards in this country.”
© CTV News
Aaron Wherry – Maclean’s
Nov. 29, 2012
The Canadian Press
Nov. 29, 2012
OTTAWA – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the same safety standards apply to meat for domestic consumption and for overseas exports and reports to the contrary are “categorically false.”
The embattled federal food safety agency is reacting to a media report that inspectors at the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta., were told to ignore contamination on cattle carcasses unless they were destined for Japan.
A memo to inspectors, dated September 2008, does indeed instruct them to ensure all “Japan-eligible” beef has been 100 per cent verified for removal of fecal, intestinal and spinal cord materials.
The same memo tells inspectors at the “Japan Dura Mater” station on the production line to ignore such contamination for meat that is not destined for Japan.
But a spokeswoman for the agency says the memo was about division of labour and that the Japan inspection station was not the end of the line.
Lisa Gauthier of the CFIA says in a release that there is “zero tolerance for any form of contamination” and that there are multiple points of detection along the processing line.
XL Foods was the scene of the largest beef recall in Canadian history this fall after meat contaminated with E. coli was stopped at the Canadian-American border in September.
People in at least four provinces were found to have been made ill by the E. coli strain and the XL plant only reopened at the end of October.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz issued a release in an effort to assure consumers there is not a two-tier inspection system for domestic and export purposes.
“CFIA continues to ensure the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as meat being exported to other markets — including Japan,” Ritz said.
“CFIA continues to ensure that meat processed in Canada meets our high food safety standards. This is required by law and acknowledged by our global customers as a superior food safety system.”
© The Vancouver Sun
The Canadian Press
Nov. 29, 2012
OTTAWA – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the same safety standards apply to meat for domestic consumption and for overseas exports and reports to the contrary are “categorically false.”
The embattled federal food safety agency is reacting to a media report that inspectors at the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta., were told to ignore contamination on cattle carcasses unless they were destined for Japan.
A memo to inspectors, dated September 2008, does indeed instruct them to ensure all “Japan-eligible” beef has been 100 per cent verified for removal of fecal, intestinal and spinal cord materials.
The same memo tells inspectors at the “Japan Dura Mater” station on the production line to ignore such contamination for meat that is not destined for Japan.
But a spokeswoman for the agency says the memo was about division of labour and that the Japan inspection station was not the end of the line.
Lisa Gauthier of the CFIA says in a release that there is “zero tolerance for any form of contamination” and that there are multiple points of detection along the processing line.
XL Foods was the scene of the largest beef recall in Canadian history this fall after meat contaminated with E. coli was stopped at the Canadian-American border in September.
People in at least four provinces were found to have been made ill by the E. coli strain and the XL plant only reopened at the end of October.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz issued a release in an effort to assure consumers there is not a two-tier inspection system for domestic and export purposes.
“CFIA continues to ensure the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as meat being exported to other markets — including Japan,” Ritz said.
“CFIA continues to ensure that meat processed in Canada meets our high food safety standards. This is required by law and acknowledged by our global customers as a superior food safety system.”
CTV News
Nov. 29, 2012
The revelation that federal meat inspectors were ordered to ignore carcass contamination at Alberta’s XL Foods plant reverberated on Parliament Hill Thursday, as opposition parties hammered the Conservative government over its handling of the E. coli crisis that sickened 18 people across Canada.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is once again under fire, this time over a Canadian Food Inspection Agency memo that instructed beef inspectors at the plant in Brooks, Alta., to ignore visible fecal and intestinal contamination on carcasses being processed for sale to Canadians.
The 2008 memo obtained by CTV News ordered inspectors to give extra scrutiny to meat being shipped for sale in Japan, however.
“Our number 1 priority is to ensure this standard is met with Japan eligible carcasses,” said the memo, written by a CFIA meat hygiene supervisor at the plant.
The CFIA reversed that policy only two weeks ago, when it sent a new memo telling inspectors to halt the meat production line and remove any spotted contamination on carcasses.
The news exploded in the House of Commons during question period Thursday, as the Conservatives fielded attacks over the CFIA’s 2008 directive. Some called for Ritz’s resignation, saying the minister has repeatedly failed to address food safety issues.
“That minister should have resigned months ago,” said NDP agriculture critic Malcolm Allen.
“We are talking about fecal material — please don’t have me say the other word that begins with an ‘S,’” Allen said at a commons committee. “We’re talking about that on a carcass.”
Liberal MP Frank Valeriote said the RCMP should be called to “investigate what may amount to criminal negligence.”
Ritz and the CFIA denied that there is a two-tiered food safety system in place, saying meat being sold to Canadians was just as thoroughly inspected, but later in the production process.
“The de-contamination system for Canadian consumers, for all other export markets in the world, is further down the line,” Ritz said Thursday.
The president of the federal food inspectors’ union said that’s not true.
Bob Kingston said the meat is later put in a de-contamination shower, but the wash won’t remove feces from carcasses — they have to be cut from the meat.
CFIA President George Da Pont, however, insisted that food safety is the agency’s “number one priority.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper also defended the CFIA and his government’s response to the tainted meat crisis.
“CFIA confirmed the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as exports to other countries,” he said. “There are strict food safety standards in this country.”
© CTV News
CTV News
Nov. 29, 2012
The revelation that federal meat inspectors were ordered to ignore carcass contamination at Alberta’s XL Foods plant reverberated on Parliament Hill Thursday, as opposition parties hammered the Conservative government over its handling of the E. coli crisis that sickened 18 people across Canada.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is once again under fire, this time over a Canadian Food Inspection Agency memo that instructed beef inspectors at the plant in Brooks, Alta., to ignore visible fecal and intestinal contamination on carcasses being processed for sale to Canadians.
The 2008 memo obtained by CTV News ordered inspectors to give extra scrutiny to meat being shipped for sale in Japan, however.
“Our number 1 priority is to ensure this standard is met with Japan eligible carcasses,” said the memo, written by a CFIA meat hygiene supervisor at the plant.
The CFIA reversed that policy only two weeks ago, when it sent a new memo telling inspectors to halt the meat production line and remove any spotted contamination on carcasses.
The news exploded in the House of Commons during question period Thursday, as the Conservatives fielded attacks over the CFIA’s 2008 directive. Some called for Ritz’s resignation, saying the minister has repeatedly failed to address food safety issues.
“That minister should have resigned months ago,” said NDP agriculture critic Malcolm Allen.
“We are talking about fecal material — please don’t have me say the other word that begins with an ‘S,’” Allen said at a commons committee. “We’re talking about that on a carcass.”
Liberal MP Frank Valeriote said the RCMP should be called to “investigate what may amount to criminal negligence.”
Ritz and the CFIA denied that there is a two-tiered food safety system in place, saying meat being sold to Canadians was just as thoroughly inspected, but later in the production process.
“The de-contamination system for Canadian consumers, for all other export markets in the world, is further down the line,” Ritz said Thursday.
The president of the federal food inspectors’ union said that’s not true.
Bob Kingston said the meat is later put in a de-contamination shower, but the wash won’t remove feces from carcasses — they have to be cut from the meat.
CFIA President George Da Pont, however, insisted that food safety is the agency’s “number one priority.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper also defended the CFIA and his government’s response to the tainted meat crisis.
“CFIA confirmed the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as exports to other countries,” he said. “There are strict food safety standards in this country.”
©
Aaron Wherry – Maclean’s
Nov. 29, 2012
The Canadian Press
Nov. 29, 2012
OTTAWA – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the same safety standards apply to meat for domestic consumption and for overseas exports and reports to the contrary are “categorically false.”
The embattled federal food safety agency is reacting to a media report that inspectors at the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta., were told to ignore contamination on cattle carcasses unless they were destined for Japan.
A memo to inspectors, dated September 2008, does indeed instruct them to ensure all “Japan-eligible” beef has been 100 per cent verified for removal of fecal, intestinal and spinal cord materials.
The same memo tells inspectors at the “Japan Dura Mater” station on the production line to ignore such contamination for meat that is not destined for Japan.
But a spokeswoman for the agency says the memo was about division of labour and that the Japan inspection station was not the end of the line.
Lisa Gauthier of the CFIA says in a release that there is “zero tolerance for any form of contamination” and that there are multiple points of detection along the processing line.
XL Foods was the scene of the largest beef recall in Canadian history this fall after meat contaminated with E. coli was stopped at the Canadian-American border in September.
People in at least four provinces were found to have been made ill by the E. coli strain and the XL plant only reopened at the end of October.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz issued a release in an effort to assure consumers there is not a two-tier inspection system for domestic and export purposes.
“CFIA continues to ensure the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as meat being exported to other markets — including Japan,” Ritz said.
“CFIA continues to ensure that meat processed in Canada meets our high food safety standards. This is required by law and acknowledged by our global customers as a superior food safety system.”
© The Vancouver Sun
The Canadian Press
Nov. 29, 2012
OTTAWA – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says the same safety standards apply to meat for domestic consumption and for overseas exports and reports to the contrary are “categorically false.”
The embattled federal food safety agency is reacting to a media report that inspectors at the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta., were told to ignore contamination on cattle carcasses unless they were destined for Japan.
A memo to inspectors, dated September 2008, does indeed instruct them to ensure all “Japan-eligible” beef has been 100 per cent verified for removal of fecal, intestinal and spinal cord materials.
The same memo tells inspectors at the “Japan Dura Mater” station on the production line to ignore such contamination for meat that is not destined for Japan.
But a spokeswoman for the agency says the memo was about division of labour and that the Japan inspection station was not the end of the line.
Lisa Gauthier of the CFIA says in a release that there is “zero tolerance for any form of contamination” and that there are multiple points of detection along the processing line.
XL Foods was the scene of the largest beef recall in Canadian history this fall after meat contaminated with E. coli was stopped at the Canadian-American border in September.
People in at least four provinces were found to have been made ill by the E. coli strain and the XL plant only reopened at the end of October.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz issued a release in an effort to assure consumers there is not a two-tier inspection system for domestic and export purposes.
“CFIA continues to ensure the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as meat being exported to other markets — including Japan,” Ritz said.
“CFIA continues to ensure that meat processed in Canada meets our high food safety standards. This is required by law and acknowledged by our global customers as a superior food safety system.”
CTV News
Nov. 29, 2012
The revelation that federal meat inspectors were ordered to ignore carcass contamination at Alberta’s XL Foods plant reverberated on Parliament Hill Thursday, as opposition parties hammered the Conservative government over its handling of the E. coli crisis that sickened 18 people across Canada.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is once again under fire, this time over a Canadian Food Inspection Agency memo that instructed beef inspectors at the plant in Brooks, Alta., to ignore visible fecal and intestinal contamination on carcasses being processed for sale to Canadians.
The 2008 memo obtained by CTV News ordered inspectors to give extra scrutiny to meat being shipped for sale in Japan, however.
“Our number 1 priority is to ensure this standard is met with Japan eligible carcasses,” said the memo, written by a CFIA meat hygiene supervisor at the plant.
The CFIA reversed that policy only two weeks ago, when it sent a new memo telling inspectors to halt the meat production line and remove any spotted contamination on carcasses.
The news exploded in the House of Commons during question period Thursday, as the Conservatives fielded attacks over the CFIA’s 2008 directive. Some called for Ritz’s resignation, saying the minister has repeatedly failed to address food safety issues.
“That minister should have resigned months ago,” said NDP agriculture critic Malcolm Allen.
“We are talking about fecal material — please don’t have me say the other word that begins with an ‘S,’” Allen said at a commons committee. “We’re talking about that on a carcass.”
Liberal MP Frank Valeriote said the RCMP should be called to “investigate what may amount to criminal negligence.”
Ritz and the CFIA denied that there is a two-tiered food safety system in place, saying meat being sold to Canadians was just as thoroughly inspected, but later in the production process.
“The de-contamination system for Canadian consumers, for all other export markets in the world, is further down the line,” Ritz said Thursday.
The president of the federal food inspectors’ union said that’s not true.
Bob Kingston said the meat is later put in a de-contamination shower, but the wash won’t remove feces from carcasses — they have to be cut from the meat.
CFIA President George Da Pont, however, insisted that food safety is the agency’s “number one priority.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper also defended the CFIA and his government’s response to the tainted meat crisis.
“CFIA confirmed the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as exports to other countries,” he said. “There are strict food safety standards in this country.”
© CTV News
CTV News
Nov. 29, 2012
The revelation that federal meat inspectors were ordered to ignore carcass contamination at Alberta’s XL Foods plant reverberated on Parliament Hill Thursday, as opposition parties hammered the Conservative government over its handling of the E. coli crisis that sickened 18 people across Canada.
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is once again under fire, this time over a Canadian Food Inspection Agency memo that instructed beef inspectors at the plant in Brooks, Alta., to ignore visible fecal and intestinal contamination on carcasses being processed for sale to Canadians.
The 2008 memo obtained by CTV News ordered inspectors to give extra scrutiny to meat being shipped for sale in Japan, however.
“Our number 1 priority is to ensure this standard is met with Japan eligible carcasses,” said the memo, written by a CFIA meat hygiene supervisor at the plant.
The CFIA reversed that policy only two weeks ago, when it sent a new memo telling inspectors to halt the meat production line and remove any spotted contamination on carcasses.
The news exploded in the House of Commons during question period Thursday, as the Conservatives fielded attacks over the CFIA’s 2008 directive. Some called for Ritz’s resignation, saying the minister has repeatedly failed to address food safety issues.
“That minister should have resigned months ago,” said NDP agriculture critic Malcolm Allen.
“We are talking about fecal material — please don’t have me say the other word that begins with an ‘S,’” Allen said at a commons committee. “We’re talking about that on a carcass.”
Liberal MP Frank Valeriote said the RCMP should be called to “investigate what may amount to criminal negligence.”
Ritz and the CFIA denied that there is a two-tiered food safety system in place, saying meat being sold to Canadians was just as thoroughly inspected, but later in the production process.
“The de-contamination system for Canadian consumers, for all other export markets in the world, is further down the line,” Ritz said Thursday.
The president of the federal food inspectors’ union said that’s not true.
Bob Kingston said the meat is later put in a de-contamination shower, but the wash won’t remove feces from carcasses — they have to be cut from the meat.
CFIA President George Da Pont, however, insisted that food safety is the agency’s “number one priority.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper also defended the CFIA and his government’s response to the tainted meat crisis.
“CFIA confirmed the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as exports to other countries,” he said. “There are strict food safety standards in this country.”
©
The Globe and Mail
Nov. 29, 2012
The Opposition says the Tories have lost all credibility when it comes to food safety. A 2008 memo from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency suggests that beef exports received more intense testing than domestically sold beef.
© The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
Nov. 29, 2012
The Opposition says the Tories have lost all credibility when it comes to food safety. A 2008 memo from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency suggests that beef exports received more intense testing than domestically sold beef.
© The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
Nov. 29, 2012
The Opposition says the Tories have lost all credibility when it comes to food safety. A 2008 memo from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency suggests that beef exports received more intense testing than domestically sold beef.
© The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
Nov. 29, 2012
The Opposition says the Tories have lost all credibility when it comes to food safety. A 2008 memo from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency suggests that beef exports received more intense testing than domestically sold beef.
© The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
Nov. 29, 2012
The Opposition says the Tories have lost all credibility when it comes to food safety. A 2008 memo from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency suggests that beef exports received more intense testing than domestically sold beef.
© The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
Nov. 29, 2012
The Opposition says the Tories have lost all credibility when it comes to food safety. A 2008 memo from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency suggests that beef exports received more intense testing than domestically sold beef.
© The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
Nov. 29, 2012
The Opposition says the Tories have lost all credibility when it comes to food safety. A 2008 memo from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency suggests that beef exports received more intense testing than domestically sold beef.
Video link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-opposition-renews-demand-for-full-cfia-audit/article5828777/
© The Globe and Mail
Bruce Cheadle – The Canadian Press
Nov. 29, 2012
OTTAWA – The Conservative government is refuting opposition claims that Canada has a “two-tiered” food inspection system that puts the quality of beef exports ahead of meat consumed at home.
A memo from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to its employees at the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta., instructed some inspectors to ignore contamination on cattle carcasses unless they were destined for Japan.
The agency responded Thursday by saying the same safety standards apply to meat for domestic consumption and for overseas exports, and reports to the contrary are “categorically false.”
“As the CFIA has confirmed, the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as meat exported to other countries,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons.
“There are strict food safety standards in this country. That is the law.”
XL Foods became the epicentre of one of the largest beef recalls in Canadian history earlier this year after meat contaminated with E. coli was stopped at the Canada-U.S. border in September.
People in at least four provinces were found to have been made ill by the E. coli strain; it wasn’t until October that the XL plant was allowed to resume production.
Agency officials said Thursday they recommended last week to the U.S. Department of Agriculture that XL Foods be relisted, and provided the USDA with an “in-depth assessment” of the plant in an effort to reopen the American market to XL products.
Reports on the CFIA inspection memo won’t help.
The issue dominated the opening salvos of question period Thursday, with the NDP’s Nycole Turmel asking provocatively, “What rate of fecal contamination are the Conservatives prepared to accept?”
Turmel demanded to know whether Harper would “apologize for having given the priority to export markets to the detriment of Canadians’ health.”
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz called the allegations “absolutely unfounded and untrue.”
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.”
Doug O’Halloran, the president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401, framed the CFIA’s explanation this way: “If it’s the same standard, it’s not a good standard.”
A CFIA memo to inspectors, dated September 2008 and repeated yearly since, instructed them to ensure “100 per cent verification” that all Japan-eligible beef was free from contaminants.
As for non-Japanese-eligible carcasses older than 20 months, the memo stated, “ignore them.”
A new memo, issued in mid-November after the matter was brought to the CFIA’s attention by the XL plant’s union, makes clear that the station should focus only on Japan-eligible beef, while offering more specific instructions on dealing with other problems.
Both the old memo and the new one end with the line: “Your first action should be to have the issue dealt with without (production) line stoppage.”
O’Halloran, who worked at XL in the 1980s and lauds the plant’s new ownership, JBS USA, said in an interview the CFIA system doesn’t work.
“They can have all the bells and whistles they want, and hope it gets caught, but why would you not deal with it when you see it?” he asked.
“Let’s look the other way on this contamination, somebody will catch it down the line.”
Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae also zeroed in on the CFIA’s apparent focus on keeping the production running.
“That is a message that clearly states that the production line is more important than health and safety,” Rae said outside the Commons.
“And I don’t think that’s a message that any inspection agency should be sending to any of its inspectors.”
Rae joined calls for an independent inquiry of the CFIA, noting the recall earlier this year began with inspections by Americans at the border.
“So I think there is an issue of a dual standard and double standard here and the fact that we need to deal with it,” he said.
“And if in fact there is no problem, then (the CFIA) should survive an independent review.”
© The Winnipeg Free Press
Bruce Cheadle – The Canadian Press
Nov. 29, 2012
OTTAWA – The Conservative government is refuting opposition claims that Canada has a “two-tiered” food inspection system that puts the quality of beef exports ahead of meat consumed at home.
A memo from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to its employees at the XL Foods processing plant in Brooks, Alta., instructed some inspectors to ignore contamination on cattle carcasses unless they were destined for Japan.
The agency responded Thursday by saying the same safety standards apply to meat for domestic consumption and for overseas exports, and reports to the contrary are “categorically false.”
“As the CFIA has confirmed, the meat sold in Canada is just as safe as meat exported to other countries,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons.
“There are strict food safety standards in this country. That is the law.”
XL Foods became the epicentre of one of the largest beef recalls in Canadian history earlier this year after meat contaminated with E. coli was stopped at the Canada-U.S. border in September.
People in at least four provinces were found to have been made ill by the E. coli strain; it wasn’t until October that the XL plant was allowed to resume production.
Agency officials said Thursday they recommended last week to the U.S. Department of Agriculture that XL Foods be relisted, and provided the USDA with an “in-depth assessment” of the plant in an effort to reopen the American market to XL products.
Reports on the CFIA inspection memo won’t help.
The issue dominated the opening salvos of question period Thursday, with the NDP’s Nycole Turmel asking provocatively, “What rate of fecal contamination are the Conservatives prepared to accept?”
Turmel demanded to know whether Harper would “apologize for having given the priority to export markets to the detriment of Canadians’ health.”
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz called the allegations “absolutely unfounded and untrue.”
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.”
Doug O’Halloran, the president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401, framed the CFIA’s explanation this way: “If it’s the same standard, it’s not a good standard.”
A CFIA memo to inspectors, dated September 2008 and repeated yearly since, instructed them to ensure “100 per cent verification” that all Japan-eligible beef was free from contaminants.
As for non-Japanese-eligible carcasses older than 20 months, the memo stated, “ignore them.”
A new memo, issued in mid-November after the matter was brought to the CFIA’s attention by the XL plant’s union, makes clear that the station should focus only on Japan-eligible beef, while offering more specific instructions on dealing with other problems.
Both the old memo and the new one end with the line: “Your first action should be to have the issue dealt with without (production) line stoppage.”
O’Halloran, who worked at XL in the 1980s and lauds the plant’s new ownership, JBS USA, said in an interview the CFIA system doesn’t work.
“They can have all the bells and whistles they want, and hope it gets caught, but why would you not deal with it when you see it?” he asked.
“Let’s look the other way on this contamination, somebody will catch it down the line.”
Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae also zeroed in on the CFIA’s apparent focus on keeping the production running.
“That is a message that clearly states that the production line is more important than health and safety,” Rae said outside the Commons.
“And I don’t think that’s a message that any inspection agency should be sending to any of its inspectors.”
Rae joined calls for an independent inquiry of the CFIA, noting the recall earlier this year began with inspections by Americans at the border.
“So I think there is an issue of a dual standard and double standard here and the fact that we need to deal with it,” he said.
“And if in fact there is no problem, then (the CFIA) should survive an independent review.”
On November 29, 2012, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency claimed the Agriculture Union made false statements concerning a CFIA memo directing food inspectors working at the XL Food plant to ignore certain food safety controls for domestic meat while ensuring that those same inspection tasks were completed on meat destined for export to Japan.
The memo, in part, as follows:
“When stationed at this position ensure that non-Japan eligible carcasses are not inspected for spinal cord/dura mater, OCD defects and minor ingesta (ignore them).”
When this memo was first brought to the Union’s attention, we recognized it as a potential public health problem and immediately brought it to the attention of the most senior officials at the CFIA and the Minister responsible, the Honourable Gerry Ritz.
Subsequently, the CFIA corrected this with a new operational directive that will provide much clearer guidance to inspectors.
But following media reports of this issue, the CFIA now claims the Agency never condoned or directed inspectors to perform their work using a double standard…one for meat destined for domestic consumption and a higher standard for meat destined for export.
Rather than admitting a local mistake that has since been corrected, the CFIA is simply denying the obvious because their original memo speaks for itself. They did tell us that they didn’t mean what the memo says, but they can’t deny what was written. If visible ingesta did reach this point and was ignored, as the memo clearly instructs, subsequent washing procedures would likely spread the contamination and make it invisible to see just as the carcass completes the inspection process resulting in a contaminated carcass either being processed onsite or going out the door.
We are disappointed the CFIA chose to attack the credibility of those who brought this issue to their attention, rather than simply correcting the problem and getting on with the important job of safeguarding the food supply in Canada. We also hope this approach does not discourage others from coming forward to identify any similar errors in the future.