EDMONTON – On Sept. 3, an American health inspector discovered beef slaughtered and packaged at the XL Lakeside packing plant in Brooks, Alberta, and shipped south of the border for sale was infected with unusually high levels of E. coli.
The United States Food Safety and Inspection Service alerted its Canadian counterparts.
On Sept. 12, the Americans found more contamination in Lakeside beef. The next day, they decertified the Lakeside plant and blocked its exports to the U.S.
Not until Sept. 16, though, did the Canadian Food Inspection Agency finally issue a low-key public alert on this side of the border, warning Canadians not to eat, sell, or serve various ground beef products produced at Lakeside.
It issued no mandatory recall, but said XL had agreed to a voluntary one.
[More]
The question of the amount of time between the US warning and Harper Government action was brought up during QP the other day, and side stepped by the government side.
One also has to ask why a foreign government discovered the issue before the Canadian food inspection system.
Were I a consumer of industrial meat I’d be asking serious questions.
Re: “Were I a consumer of industrial meat I’d be asking serious questions.”
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know that in that particular government department (behind the scenes of course) “all hell is breaking loose”.
You can trust me on this: “They are Stage, they are!!”
And for damned good reason.
It may be Jack, but our government is standing up in public and telling us that they did everything right and (once again, and like every government before them) disparaging those who question the chain of events that brought us to where we are today.
And where are we? Well, today’s news tells us that things have gotten far enough out of hand that consumers are advised to ask at point of sale whether or not the meat they are buying is suspect or involved.
Were I the type who bought my meat in some box store, or fast food joint, my confidence levels would not be high.