Conestoga Meat Products runs clean ship

Conestoga Meat Products Ltd., a farmer-owned hog-slaughter and processing plant at Breslau, runs a clean ship, judging by Canadian Food Inspection Agency records for 2017.

The records were released under Access to Information and I followed up to ask for a set of copies.

Only several minor infractions show up, none affecting the quality or food safety of the pork shipped from the plant.

For example, one of the most serious issues mentioned is about an employee who used his hog-herding paddle to hit a pig on its snout.

I have been perusing CFIA reports on North American meat-packing plants for more than 40 years and only once have I encountered a better track record.

That was for a brand-new turkey processing plant which did no slaughtering at Ayton, Ont.