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.

Randy Huffman, Chief Food Safety Officer

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.

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

Shiv Chopra,(veterinarian,microbiologist)
Author, CORRUPT TO THE CORE: Memoirs of Health Canada Whistleblower

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.

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