The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is touring the XL Foods
Inc. plant at Brooks, Alta., checking to see whether the plant is ready to
resume slaughtering up to 4,000 cattle per day after being shut down for a week
to clean up because E. coli 015 contaminated meat from the plant.
Eleven sickened people have had their illnesses linked to
XL-plant beef, the recall list as increased daily to more than 2,000 products
distributed to more than 20 countries and from coast to coast to coast in
Canada.
The company’s reputation and the effectiveness of the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency are in tatters.
What remains to be seen is whether the company can recover,
whether the entire Canadian beef industry will lose clients across Canada and
in export markets and whether the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will undergo
a major overhaul.
