Successive Liberal And Conservative Governments Put Canadians Health At Risk According To USDA Report
Neither Canada's Liberal nor Conservative governments actually care very much about the health and safety of average Canadian citizens. All these two old time political entities care about is not ruffling the feathers of Canada's corporate sector.
This reality is abundantly clear with the release of a report on XL Foods by the United States Department of Agriculture.
"Inspectors with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) sent a series of audit reports to the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) between 2003 and 2008 detailing deficiencies they had found at Canadian processing plants, including XL Foods facilities.
These audit reports list findings at XL Foods plants that included sloppy record-keeping, equipment held together by duct tape and, in one case, a gruesome scene of animal blood dripping into edible meat products."
During Liberal Administration:
"One audit in 2003 found non-compliance with food safety procedures serious enough that the company was temporarily delisted as an approved exporter to the U.S.An inspection in July 2003 at an XL Foods plant in Calgary found numerous problems, including equipment covered with meat, blood and fat from the previous day, inadequate staffing at the slaughterhouse and improper post-mortem inspection of the animal carcasses.
Across town at another company facility, inspectors found condensation dripping onto meat products in the cooler and numerous failings with required documentation. The company was delisted the same day."
During Conservative Administration:
"Another audit, released in 2008, described this tableau discovered by inspectors at an XL Foods plant: “a piece of duct tape was wrapped around the hose of the hock sterilizer, a tuft of hair on the support for the carcass skinning rail, blood and residue on the tension adjustment bob for the employee safety wire, and surplus pipes filled with blood and dirt on the floor near the hide puller. Establishment management initiated immediate corrective actions.” This inspection also uncovered problems with the electronic systems used to track the animals from slaughter to shipment."
-U.S. authorities repeatedly warned CFIA over safety problems at XL Foods facilities
Liberals like to do a good talk but at the end of the day, unless the crap hits the fan, looking away, doing nothing and removing regulations that corporations don't like, wins, in the end.
Posted by susansmith | 9:05 pm, October 17, 2012
Absolutely jan! What the USDA Report tells me is that the Minister(s) responsible for CFIA have NOT been doing their job for a long time. Both Conservative and Liberal administrations have had lots of warnings and notice to do something to protect the health of Canadians. Every Minister with this portfolio, going back to at least 2003 (that's you Libs) should be held accountable.
Posted by leftdog | 9:49 pm, October 17, 2012