http://www.edmontonjournal.com/health/Simons+Glacial+response+federal+authorities+contaminated/7317992/story.html
Simons: Glacial response of federal authorities to contaminated meat put public health at risk
By Paula Simons, Edmonton Journal September 28, 2012
EDMONTON - On Sept. 3, an American health inspector discovered beef slaughtered and packaged at the XL Lakeside packing plant in Brooks, Alberta, and shipped south of the border for sale was infected with unusually high levels of E. coli.
The United States Food Safety and Inspection Service alerted its Canadian counterparts.
On Sept. 12, the Americans found more contamination in Lakeside beef. The next day, they decertified the Lakeside plant and blocked its exports to the U.S.
Not until Sept. 16, though, did the Canadian Food Inspection Agency finally issue a low-key public alert on this side of the border, warning Canadians not to eat, sell, or serve various ground beef products produced at Lakeside.
It issued no mandatory recall, but said XL had agreed to a voluntary one.
By that time, three Albertans had already been hospitalized for E. coli poisoning. Another two were seriously ill. Four cases were linked to steaks that came from the Brooks plant.
Yet the Lakeside plant went right on processing Alberta beef, for markets across the United States and Canada. XL, and its parent company, Edmonton-based Nillson Brothers, went on assuring consumers that its beef was safe.
Late Thursday, more than three weeks after American authorities first sounded the alarm, the CFIA took long-overdue, decisive action.
It suspended XL's licence, citing the company for failing to correct deficiencies in its meat-handling.
But the damage to consumer confidence, and to the international reputation of Alberta's prize beef, has already been done.
(snip.. follow link to article)
Simons: Glacial response of federal authorities to contaminated meat put public health at risk
By Paula Simons, Edmonton Journal September 28, 2012
EDMONTON - On Sept. 3, an American health inspector discovered beef slaughtered and packaged at the XL Lakeside packing plant in Brooks, Alberta, and shipped south of the border for sale was infected with unusually high levels of E. coli.
The United States Food Safety and Inspection Service alerted its Canadian counterparts.
On Sept. 12, the Americans found more contamination in Lakeside beef. The next day, they decertified the Lakeside plant and blocked its exports to the U.S.
Not until Sept. 16, though, did the Canadian Food Inspection Agency finally issue a low-key public alert on this side of the border, warning Canadians not to eat, sell, or serve various ground beef products produced at Lakeside.
It issued no mandatory recall, but said XL had agreed to a voluntary one.
By that time, three Albertans had already been hospitalized for E. coli poisoning. Another two were seriously ill. Four cases were linked to steaks that came from the Brooks plant.
Yet the Lakeside plant went right on processing Alberta beef, for markets across the United States and Canada. XL, and its parent company, Edmonton-based Nillson Brothers, went on assuring consumers that its beef was safe.
Late Thursday, more than three weeks after American authorities first sounded the alarm, the CFIA took long-overdue, decisive action.
It suspended XL's licence, citing the company for failing to correct deficiencies in its meat-handling.
But the damage to consumer confidence, and to the international reputation of Alberta's prize beef, has already been done.
(snip.. follow link to article)