My Thoughts on the Weatherill Report
July 21st, 2009 by Michael McCainToday the report on the Weatherill Investigation into the listeriosis outbreak last year was made public. Ever since this investigation got underway, we have made sure that Ms. Weatherill and her team had complete access to our people and any information they required. The final outcome is a very thorough report which provides valuable insights and recommendations to improve Canada’s food safety system. I am personally grateful for the effort of the investigative team…this is a life and death matter and they took that mandate very seriously.
It is also an important and a painful reminder of the factors that led to last year’s tragedy which resulted in the deaths of 22 people. Some areas of the report are tough on Maple Leaf and our practices as it ought to be. We don’t protest our innocence and continue to take full responsibility. No report, no matter how thorough, can match the level of self-criticism and remorse we have felt as a result of this tragedy. We have left no stone unturned to improve every part of our food safety program as a result.
What we believed was a strong food safety program at the time was quite simply, not good enough. We lacked the scientific rigour, investigative substance and Listeria quarantine nets that we have in place now. We cannot expect people to forget and neither will we. Ultimate accountability for last year’s tragedy rests with us. We can and will continue to use it as an opportunity to remind ourselves that lives and livelihoods depend on the duty of care that we take - day in, day out - to ensure that it never happens again.
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Dear Mr. Michael McCain
Sound familiar? — ” We cannot expect people to forget and neither will we. Ultimate accountability for last year’s tragedy rests with us. We can and will continue to use it as an opportunity to remind ourselves that lives and livelihoods depend on the duty of care that we take - day in, day out - to ensure that it never happens again.”
What are you doing to see that the processed meats that you produce do not contain US Poo Fed Beef? You and I both know that CFIA has publicly stated that Feeding Poultry manure to livestock is a health risk to the animals and a health risk to the consumers of the food from those animals! It’s time that you live up to your commitment to consumers and ban the use of US manure fed beef from your food products!
cowboss — http://cowbossatwscc.blogspot.com/2009/08/open-letter-to-michael-mccain-and-maple.html
There are a number of standards we impose on our suppliers of beef both domestic, from which we purchase the vast majority, and also international suppliers, including the United States which represents a very small amount of our total purchase. In both the U.S. and Canada, we only purchase product from establishments that are governed by applicable United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regulations. This ensures that the beef materials used in our products meet our the highest standards of food safety assurance, making them safe for consumers and their families to eat.
“Editor says:
August 7, 2009 at 4:17 pm
There are a number of standards we impose on our suppliers of beef both domestic, from which we purchase the vast majority, and also international suppliers, including the United States which represents a very small amount of our total purchase. In both the U.S. and Canada, we only purchase product from establishments that are governed by applicable United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regulations. This ensures that the beef materials used in our products meet our the highest standards of food safety assurance, making them safe for consumers and their families to eat.”
With all due respect, Editor, your response does nothing to address the issue raised about imported manure-fed meat. What you have indicated is the standard answer that some of us have heard so many times already from our elected officials who also want to look the other way when it comes to this issue. All meat imports from the US are governed by USDA and CFIA standards; this is not a restriction unique to Maple Leaf. The facts are: 1) CFIA condemns the feeding of poultry manure to food animals in Canada because of the health risks to the animals and to the humans consuming those animals. 2) The US permits the feeding of poultry manure to food animals as a cheap alternative to protein supplements. 3) There are no import restrictions on meat products from countries such as the US specific to the feeding of poultry manure to food animals. 4) Maple Leaf (and a host of other importers) sell and/or process and sell this meat as equivalent when it is not raised to the same standards as Canadian product. The questions as I see it are -from the open letter at the cowboss blogspot — a) “Would you be so kind as to explain to me and to your customers how it is that even after your “near death experience” you continue to ignore the health of your customers by continuing to process US feces fed beef into what you call “safe food”? b)I am asking that you immediately stop using US feces fed beef to manufacture the products that you are selling to unsuspecting Canadian consumers!
Would you please address this issue as I am acutely interested in hearing your direct and honest response.
Karen-
We tend to rely on the regulatory judgment of the U.S. and Canadian governments, partly because we import so little beef from the U.S. (a little more than 10% of our total).
While the U.S. and Canadian regulatory systems have developed slightly different approaches to food safety, this does not and should not be interpreted as an unsafe food safety system. In fact, scientists, regulators and policymakers have determined that our food safety systems are equivalent.
Our technical experts tell us that chicken litter cows have little to do with the Listeria problem - at least at Maple Leaf. The U.S. beef that we import represents a very small amount of our total purchase and is used in our processed meat products. It is thoroughly cooked to over 170°F for long periods of time completely destroying any vegetative bacteria that may be present. We have also consulted with global experts on Listeria control and not one has suggested the theory you present to be proven in ready-to-eat meat products.
I believe the Weatherill Report was comprehensive and thorough given the terms of reference used for the investigation. It does not, however go far enough. Food safety begins with the food producer and not at a meat packaging facility. (ie: garbage in - garbage out). To say that listeria is a common pathogen or that Canada has one of the world’s best food safety programs is a cop-out and does not address the fundamental problem.
I commend Michael McCain and Maple Leaf Foods for stepping forward and taking responsibility for their part in the listeriosis outbreak, but I am not satisfied that the issue of food safety has to be shouldered by Maple Leaf alone.
CFIA does a weak job of enforcing it’s own standards. There are food animals coming through our borders that have been medicated with substances prohibited in Canada. Additionally, many of the food animals coming through our borders have been fed poultry manure or poultry litter. This is a despicable practice prohibited in Canada for good reason. There are no import restrictions on product raised this way. It is then allowed to penetrate the Canadian markets and you don’t have to look far to find it. The next time you have beef dinner at the nursing home with “Grandma” consider where the meat came from. I have first-hand knowledge that there is a high degree of probability that it came from a country that has fed their food animals prohibited medications and poultry manure.
CFIA “talks the talk”, but they do not “walk the walk”. There is a void in food safety in this country big enough to drive a truck through and I, for one, will be boycotting the purchase and/or consumption of meat that may have been raised in another country until these voids are filled.
The only way I can believe in Maple Leaf’s claim of remourse for 22 deaths is if they would stop manufacturing and commercializing hot dog, sausage, pepperoni and sandwitch meat as safe and healthy food. Actually, they admit that microbial safety of none of these products can be guaranteed.
Shiv Chopra,(veterinarian,microbiologist)
Author, CORRUPT TO THE CORE: Memoirs of Health Canada Whistleblower
You raise a valid point about our previous recall and one that we have to claim responsibility for. For many decades, the food industry including Maple Leaf, have spoken out strongly about how safe our food supply is, sometimes claiming that in North America we “have the safest food supply in the world”. Maybe we have inadvertently led consumers to believe that our food is completely safe or “risk free”. That stark “absolutely safe” claim has led many consumers to believe that “zero” food safety risk is achievable for all foods and by the very nature of that belief, then every recall must be evidence of carelessness. Anyone who truly understands the nature of food processing realizes that this is not the case, as recalls are a part of the food safety system that stems from our ever increasing expertise at detecting contaminants in food and foodborne illnesses in our population. Recalls are a reality of, and an important component of, a modern and fully developed food safety system. We agree that it is time for the food industry to level with the public. While we can make food safe and absolutely MUST make food safety our first priority, we cannot claim that all foods are 100% safe.
Randy Huffman, Chief Food Safety Officer
Blog Policy
It’s all about respecting everyone’s views and opinions! We welcome dialogue and encourage you to share your ideas and opinions by leaving a comment on any post.
We want to hear from you -both the positive and the negative! We will not censor comments that are critical of Maple Leaf….
You can not be serious with this statement — Are you?
cowboss
Absolutely! We want to hear what people have to say on the subject of food safety and also on how Maple Leaf is doing, regardless of whether that is good or bad. We have and want to maintain a direct and candid dialogue with proponents and critics, despite the fact that we will not always share the same point of view.