For Capital Packers, the devil is in the paper work.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency didn’t suspend the Edmonton packing plant’s licence Nov. 22 because of tainted food product but because it couldn’t adequately track its products once they left the plant.
“Our licence was suspended due to an ineffective recall program,” the company in a news release.
Capital Packers voluntarily recalled ham sausage after routine testing found listeria on an employee’s sleeve at the beginning of November.
No listeria was found in any of the packaged meat products, but the company couldn’t prove, through paperwork, that they knew where all of the potentially affected product was. As a result, it voluntarily recalled certain brands of ham sausage.
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Paul Mayer, CFIA’s associate vice-president of programs, said the company’s licence has been suspended until it can develop a proper food safety plan.
“This finding was not in a food product but in an environmental finding. These findings are routine, but the company was not able to actually pinpoint if the potentially affected product was under its control,” Mayer said during a news conference.
“In particular, the company has been unable to demonstrate it has effective processes in place to keep track of its production,” he said.
Capital Packers has voluntarily recalled 378 cases of meat that may have been affected when the positive listeria test was found. It is sampling products produced during the same time.
“To be clear, there have been no positive samples found in food products. At this time, we are taking precautionary action based on the positive sample on the sleeve of a uniform,” said Mayer.
It’s not the first time the CFIA has shut down the Edmonton plant. In 2011, it was shut down for one week because of condensation and ventilation problems.
