Food traceability, which is a powerful tool to mitigate risks across food supply chains, does not guarantee food safety and integrity. Even so, the challenge of tracking food products and ingredients upstream and downstream touches on the core of what is required to manage risks posed by the new normal in the business of food […] Read more
Tag Archives Food Safety
Needle fragments hurt entire industry
Always carry a marker. That’s one of the simple steps hog barn workers can take to eliminate the risk of broken needles ending up in the processing line at the slaughter plants, says Maple Leaf pig procurement manager Robert Mackay. “Just mark the pig,” Mackay said during a presentation at the Manitoba Swine Seminar. “Have […] Read more
Local food proponents exploit XL recall
It’s no surprise that local food activists are using the recent XL Foods beef recall to push their agenda. After all, the beef recall involving the plant in Brooks, Alta., affected more than 2,000 products and is being called the largest beef recall in Canadian history. Seventeen people have so far been diagnosed with E. […] Read more
Memo raises inspection questions
Beef line at XL Foods | Government says opposition is misinterpreting the memo’s meaning
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is under fire over another incident at the XL Foods plant near Brooks, Alta. The incident involves a memo that appeared to order carcass contamination be ignored at one inspection point. This autumn, E. coli-contaminated meat sent out of the plant resulted in the largest meat recall in Canadian history […] Read moreIndustry assured of input on food safety rules
Food safety legislation passes | Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz wants work to begin quickly on creating new regulations
Legislation aimed at strengthening the food inspection system and food safety received unanimous House of Commons approval last week. Now, the nitty-gritty work of creating regulations begins. The regulations, months from being completed, will define how the legislation directly affects industries subject to Canadian Food Inspection Agency authority. During committee hearings, several supportive industry groups […] Read moreCFIA cuts, fewer inspectors, cause E. coli crisis: Mulcair
Opposition leader Thomas Mulcair says agriculture minister Gerry Ritz “should be booted out” for overseeing budget cuts that put food safety at risk and refusing to accept responsibility. He used a 70-minute speech on the government budget implementation bill Oct. 24 to slam the government for trimming food inspection budgets and for bungling the E. […] Read more
Safety compliance system ‘stupid’
New system needed | Industry veteran says existing meat safety system too convoluted
The E. coli contamination at XL Foods highlights the need to get rid of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s deeply flawed compliance verification system, says an industry veteran. “That thing needs to be chucked out. It needs to be chucked out, not revamped,” said Gerald Third, who spent 32 years in the meat packing business […] Read moreExperts split on food’s role in fueling revolution
MONTREAL — A remarkable photograph from Polish anti-Communist demonstrations three decades ago showed a striking dockworker with a sign: “Hungry workers eat their leaders.” Some analysts have attributed Middle East uprisings last year to wide-spread anger over high food prices. And famously during the Russian Revolution in 1917, the triumphant Bolsheviks made bread for hungry […] Read more
World urged to adopt grain reserve
MONTREAL — A quarter century after the last attempt at an international grain reserve was ditched, a senior Canadian Foodgrains Bank official says it is time for governments to reconsider the idea. Paul Hagerman, public policy director for the Winnipeg-based Canadian Foodgrains Bank, told a McGill University conference on global security Oct. 17 that food […] Read more
Should Gerry Ritz resign?
Opposition says yes NDP ag critic says new person needed to restore public trust in food safety
The Conservative majority in the House of Commons votes this week to endorse the actions of agriculture minister Gerry Ritz in his handling of the XL Foods tainted beef recall. The Oct. 23 vote, followed by a vote to send government food safety legislation S-11 to the Commons agriculture committee, was expected to split on […] Read more
