A southern Alberta meat processor has had its Canadian Food Inspection Agency licence suspended after inspectors found issues with its sanitation procedures to prevent cross-contamination of food and control measures for detection of E. coli.
Bouvry Exports of Fort MacLeod was levied the suspension Feb. 17 and the CFIA issued a public notice about the situation late last week.
“The CFIA was of the opinion that a risk of injury to the public may result if the licence holder continued to conduct the activities identified in the licence,” read the statement issued by CFIA Feb. 25.
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Bouvry Exports will have 90 days to take corrective actions relating to its operations and issues identified by CFIA and risks cancelation of its licence if those problems persist past May.
The CFIA said that at this time there are no food recalls related to the enforcement action.
The company has reported layoffs due to the license suspension as it addresses the issues identified by the CFIA.
Bouvry Exports, which processes beef, bison, elk and horse meat products, has operated in Alberta for 40 years.
It exports horse meat products domestically and internationally and is one of the larger equine meat processing facilities in Western Canada.
The company last faced CFIA regulation issues in August 2019 when several of its horse meat products were recalled due to the presence of clenbuterol, a pharmaceutical used to treat horses.
The company also faced a recall in October 2019 due to detection of E. coli in its beef cheek product.
While the CFIA said it is responsible for enforcing food safety regulations, “licence holders are responsible for ensuring they comply with Canada’s food laws,” according to its latest release about the company.
