Maple Lodge Farms Ltd. of Norval is facing 60 criminal
charges for trucking chickens in freezing weather during the winters of 2008-09
and 2009-2010.
That’s in addition to 26 administrative penalties totaling
$120,600 for chicken-trucking infractions in the first half of 2011 and another
16 totaling $45,000 between July and September against Maple Lodge’s New Brunswick company, Nadeau Poultry Farms
Ltd.
The charges and administrative penalties have all been laid
by inspectors for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, often when frozen
chickens arrive at the processing plant at Norval, next door to Brampton.
Only two of the criminal charges have so far been heard in
court in Brampton.
Those cases, according to a report in the Toronto Star,
related to transportation of both broiler chickens and spent hens.
The company says its employees took all reasonable steps in transporting chickens in cold weather and also says it has invested $35 million in transportation and handling over the last three years.
It says it will be the first company in North America to use modular systems for transporting and handling spent hens.
The company says its employees took all reasonable steps in transporting chickens in cold weather and also says it has invested $35 million in transportation and handling over the last three years.
It says it will be the first company in North America to use modular systems for transporting and handling spent hens.
