Today 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.