Canada's food-safety watchdog restored the operating licence Tuesday for a southern Alberta meat-packing plant at the centre of a massive recall of tainted beef, and also launched a review of the E. coli crisis that sickened at least 16 people.
But the Canadian Food Inspection Agency acknowledged that its control over food safety inside the nation's slaughterhouses has its limits: It is still up to companies such as XL Foods to honour its own safety plans.
Forty-six federal inspectors didn't detect sanitation, hygiene and reporting deficiencies in the Brooks, Alta.-based facility until the outbreak of E. coli bacteria last month touched off one of the largest food recalls in Canadian history.
"They had a series of problems which we required corrective action on, and which we're seeking confidence that they've now addressed, and the same would hold if we uncovered a problem in other facilities," said Paul Mayers, vice-president of programs at the CFIA.
"Our daily inspection activities in other meat slaughter facilities across the country have not pointed to similar problems; our process of regular inspection and oversight continues to be diligently applied in every federally registered meat slaughter establishment across the country."
Officials emphasized the fact that E. coli outbreaks have decreased over the past decade, suggesting the food-safety regime in Canada is improving.
Martine Dubuc, the vice-president of science at the agency, said it came down to XL Foods not communicating as regularly or as transparently as it was supposed to with the inspectors inside the plant.
The reporting issue is likely to come up as the CFIA convenes an expert advisory committee of the XL Foods incident, Dubuc said.
At XL Foods, production will ramp up gradually as inspectors scrutinize the work on the facility floor.
The agency says two additional inspectors will stay at the plant to monitor procedures and ensure strengthened food safety controls are being integrated into daily practices.
But Liberal MP Frank Valeriote criticized the Conservative government Tuesday over the qualifications of the XL Foods inspectors. Not all are fully trained in the "compliance verification system," which allows them to undertake in-depth assessments. "Will the minister finally admit that the CFIA needs a third party comprehensive resource audit to properly allocate and develop training for its inspectors so this does not happen again, or is the minister waiting for a third crisis?" Valeriote said during question period.
It wasn't immediately clear how long it would take for the plant to get back up to full speed, but union officials say employees are being summoned for training and suggest production could resume on Monday.
