REGINA – There is no enforcement of regulations limiting the sale of meat that isn’t federally inspected, says a recent report to the Saskatchewan government.
That has some people within the industry concerned.
Peter Rempel, head of Saskatchewan Agriculture’s land and regulatory management branch, told a recent beef industry conference that local plants can purchase inspected meat and blend it with uninspected meat, without the consumer’s knowledge. No one is monitoring this practice, he said.
Lorne Thomson, past-president of Saskatchewan Meat Processors and a member of the Livestock Policy Advisory Council, said this is a concern throughout the province’s beef industry.
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Both Rempel and Thomson said hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions are purchasing meat from local packers, and are likely assuming the carcasses have been inspected.
Meat not inspected
Plants that are not federally inspected are only required to be checked by Saskatchewan Health for physical and sanitary conditions. There are 40 to 45 plants checked at least once a year, said community health inspection consultant Lisa Wasylenka.
There are 18 federally inspected plants in Saskatchewan, where animals are inspected while alive, and their carcasses after slaughter and during processing. There are also nine domestic plants inspected by federal officials, but only at the live and slaughter stages.
Federally inspected meat may be sold anywhere, while meat from domestic or local plants can only be sold within the province. In Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Prince Albert, however, municipal bylaws prevent the sale of uninspected meat.
“There is nothing in our legislation that would prohibit them from doing that,” said Wasylenka. “We don’t inspect carcasses. It’s out of our ball park.”
Jak Schuhmacher, Saskatchewan Meat Processors president, said there is a possibility that inspected carcasses are being mixed with uninspected ones and sold. But he said once a carcass leaves a federally-inspected plant it loses its inspected status as far as processing is concerned. That is where existing laws are loose, he said.
Consumer relies on store
Byrnne Rothwell, southern Saskatchewan regional operations manager for Agriculture Canada’s inspection branch in Moose Jaw, said consumers depend upon the integrity of the retail outlet where they are buying.
“Many local abattoirs do buy their supply from inspected premises,” Rothwell said. “The consumer there may be led to believe that all the product is inspected.”
Rothwell said he has met with provincial health and agricultural officials to discuss inspection.
“Our point of view is that we don’t see a third level of inspection,” he said. “We do regard inspection of premises as one thing and animals and the slaughter process as quite another.”
