Thursday, January 15, 2015

CFIA allowed shoddy plant to operate

Information released under the Access-to-Information system indicates the Canadian Food Inspection Agency allowed St. Ann’s Foods near St. Catharines to operate under shoddy food-safety standards.

The company failed to provide enough clearance to keep large beef carcasses from dragging on the floor.

The company’s plan was to trim any meat that touched the floor, but the documents indicate compliance was “inconsistent”.

The documents also indicate the company did not have an acceptable plan to control E. coli 0157:H7 bacteria.

It also indicates that sometimes the plant had not been properly sanitized and CFIA inspectors would have to order the cleaning and sanitation to be redone before daily operations could begin.

The company got clear warnings in October, 2012, again in November and missed a deadline for compliance in December.

Yet the CFIA allowed the plant to continue operating until February when it finally shut it down and refused to allow it to resume operations until it was in compliance.

The company did regain its licence later.

The company had approval to export to the United States, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Chile.

Related documents indicate Distributeurs des Volaille, Beurre et Oeufs Akme of Saint-Eustache, west of Montreal, had its licence suspended for failure to meet CFIA standards and warnings to pull up its socks.

Among other things, it held the right to hold meat imports from the United States pending inspection for border clearance. The CFIA allows some meat imports to move straight through border crossings to be held and inspected at a facility inside Canada.


The company also held the right to export to the U.S., South Africa and Chile.