March 16, 2010

Canada ramps up meat inspections frequency

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is scrambling to maintain an increased presence at dozens of large meat-processing plants after USDA auditors found inspections were too infrequent to meet US food-safety standards, newly released internal records show.

News of ongoing resource problems at CFIA comes as public-health authorities are carrying out a high-profile listeriosis investigation involving tainted meat at a federally inspected Toronto processing plant operated by Siena Foods Ltd.

The ramped-up inspection cycle of at least one visit for every 12 hours of production was instituted last November so operators in Canada, including Siena Foods, could continue to export their products to the US.

Siena Foods has now been blamed for producing tainted salami and prosciutto dating back to last December. Since then, Siena Foods Ltd. and CFIA has announced the recall of three additional Siena meat products for possible listeria-monocytogenes contamination.

The company also stopped production at its facility this weekend and is working with CFIA inspectors to sanitise the plant.

This is the first time a facility has shut down since Canada was rocked in the summer of 2008 with a deadly listeriosis outbreak linked to Maple Leaf Foods deli meats.

The additional inspection coverage for 80 plants, instituted just weeks before the first Siena recall in December, will allow the plants to better meet the USDA's technical requirements for products exported to the US, said Cameron Prince, CFIA's vice-president of operations.

In a statement, the agency said there is an additional US$13 million in this year's budget to hire new staff meet the USDA 12-hour rule, which it considers a reinterpretation of policy. This means CFIA can hire approximately 100 new inspectors for meat and poultry facilities over the coming year.