Ottawa pulls back | Some fear that giving abattoir staff responsibility for inspections will damage credibility
Questions surrounding who will assume responsibility and pay the costs for meat inspections once the federal government pulls out are beginning to escalate in British Columbia.
Ottawa plans to pull out of providing inspection services at some meat-packing plants in the province at the end of next year.
B.C. agriculture minister Norm Letnick said the province would have to pay $3 million to $5 million more for meat inspection under the plan.
“Before I go in front of the treasury board and ask for another $5 million a year, I want to know what the other options are,” Letnick said.
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According to Statistics Canada, animal slaughter and processing in B.C. is worth about $1.5 billion annually.
Letnick is considering passing the responsibility of killing floor inspections from government inspectors to abattoir staff, a process called the preventive partnership meat inspection approach.
Mike Noullett, president of B.C. Association of Abattoirs, is concerned that shifting inspection responsibility to the industry will hurt the credibility of the meat packing industry.
“We believe there should be third party inspectors. There should be no onus put on the plant owners to do their own inspection. It takes away all credibility of the inspection system because the owners have a financial stake in what’s happening.”
While packing plants in the province that export beef out of province or internationally will continue to be inspected by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Noullett is concerned a provincial self-inspection system may hurt how international buyers perceive B.C.’s packing industry.
Kevin Boon, general manager of the B.C. Cattlemen’s Association, said to maintain consumer confidence, everything must be done to prevent undue influence in the inspection system.
“The importance of meat inspection for both food safety and animal health are paramount. It’s also paramount this be done by a third party and funded outside of those that are making money from it.”
Letnick expects to make his final decision by January.
“I think we all recognize that it would be inappropriate to have the inspector paid for directly from the inspectee. There’s to much potential for conflict of interest,” Letnick said. “But maybe there is some other way we can fund the short fall in the system.”
Another change Letnick is considering is to increase the ability of farmgate operations to slaughter and sell their own animals.
“Any course of action I decide on will have to meet the criteria of my triple aim: health and safety, to make sure the As and Bs continue to be financially successful, and to try to put some animals back on the farm,” Letnick said.
Standards vary with different licences and hygiene protocols vary with the size of the operation. The system is designed to avoid putting onerous regulations on small, rural slaughter facilities, which could render them non-viable.
The provincial slaughter class A licence allows both slaughter and cut-and-wrap services, class B allows for slaughter only.
In 2010, to allow for local meat sales in isolated communities, the provincial government introduced class D licences, which allow for slaughter and sale to consumers or stores and restaurants of up to 25 animals a year.
Class E allows for the slaughter and sale of up to 10 animals per year directly to consumers.
Noullett said E licences provide a good opportunity for E. coli and other food born bacteria to get into the food chain.
“We believe there should be a tightening of the rules and laws instead of laxing them,” Noullett said. “With the E licenses there is no inspection at all. Guys can be butchering in their backyard, throwing a warm carcass in the back of their pick-up truck, and then taking it to a cut and wrap shop. That goes against everything that meat hygiene is about.”
Dick Blewett has maintained a herd of around 12 cattle for about 30 years in Bella Coola, B.C. where the nearest abattoir is about 100 kilometres. He has a class D licence that allows him to butcher his animals and get them cut and wrapped locally. He sells six to eight cattle a year, directly to customers, or he can sell to local stores and restaurants.
Blewett said the major problems with food born diseases like E. coli stem from large meat processing plants. However, he also said there should be more inspections associated with class D licences.
No government inspector has ever watched Blewett slaughter an animal.
Letnick said the danger of the possible risk associated with the D and E licences, is offset by the low number of animals that are allowed to be sold.
For information on the B.C. Abattoir Inspection System Review, go to: www.health.gov.bc.ca/protect/meat-regulation/bcaisr-review.html.
