The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has just posted its
enforcement activities during the final quarter of last year and it’s clear
that the public has not always been informed about bad actors and products in a
timely fashion.
R. Fiedler Meat Products Ltd. of Simcoe faced the harshest
penalty the CFIA can administer – suspension of its licence, effectively
putting it out of business from Nov. 22 to Dec. 23.
There was no news release or public announcement about the
issues, nor are any reasons revealed now on the CFIA website.
In other cases the CFIA either detained or seized and
destroyed products.
Often the public learns about issues such as listeria
because there is a product recall, but nothing was said at the time about
listeria that was detected in cheeses and meats made by three different Ontario
companies.
Twice the CFIA seized meat at the Mississauga plant run by
508818 Ontario Ltd., better known as Erie Meat. The first time was Oct. 22, the
second time Nov. 21. In both cases, the products seized were ready-to-eat
meats.
Cressy Gourmet Investment ADVA Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co.
of Picton had batches of cheeses seized because of listeria. The brand names
were Nettles Gone Wild Cheese and Rose Haus Cheese.
Santa Maria Foods ULC of Belleville had some deli pork
detained on Nov. 21 because of listeria.
Frozen poultry was detained at ADP Direct Poultry Ltd. in
Toronto on Oct. 20 because the company lacked proper documentation.
Premium Brands, one of Canada’s largest meat processors, had
some ready-to-eat sliced ham seized at one of its Toronto plants on Dec. 8. The
CFIA only identifies the reason as a “biological hazard”.
The reasons are much murkier for all of the detentions in
Quebec, including chicken breast from Olymel and picnic ham from Salaisons Lévesque Inc.
A number of
imports were rejected, including primavera pasta with beef from Azerbaijan,
blueberries from Uruguay, caperberries from Turkey, Receta (dry meat) from Mexico
and a couple of shipments of potatoes from the United States.
The CFIA
collected $333,866 in administrative penalties imposed on 48 companies or
individuals.
Fifteen of
those were animal transport issues in Ontario where the total collected was
$109,800.
The CFIA
doesn’t reveal who was fined, but earlier this year it did and Maple
Lodge Farms Ltd. of Norval came off bad. It’s also being pursued In court.
Ontario accounted for the lion’s share of fines – 18 of the
48 – and Quebec had five, the four Western provinces 21.
