Tougher federal meat inspection might help small plants

Thursday, May 23, 2013

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

In 2011, Cory Van Groningen and his family embarked in a pilot project that would allow their provincially inspected meat plant, VG Meats in Simcoe, Norfolk County, to ship product across provincial boundaries.

Now, the family business, which slaughters roughly 60 hogs and 25 to 40 beef cattle weekly, is seeking full the federal registration that would allow it to also ship internationally.

Issues identified in the pilot that have led to differences in how officials interpret federal rules for smaller plants are helping with the transition to federal registration.

Federal changes to rules governing the inspection of federal meat plants announced Friday may ease the transition even further, says Van Groningen, who is also a cattle producer and this year’s president of the Ontario Independent Meat Producers Association.

The changes were announced as part of the federal government’s strategy to strengthen food safety rules. The strategy will unfold over two years, a recent federal news release says.

“A lot of these recommendations are based on results probably of the investigation of the XL (Foods Inc.) recall last fall,” says Van Groningen, referring to a massive recall following the discovery of E. coli in products from the Alberta beef processing plant.

One proposed requirement calls for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to intensify its sampling from April to October when higher occurrences of E. coli are more common. The requirement would relate inspection rates to production volume.

Van Groningen describes the approach to inspection frequency as “more realistic for a small plant” than a prescriptive approach that might require, for example, 10 samples a week regardless of a plant’s size.

He anticipates provincial plants will feel the impact of the changes. “We are not directly inspected currently by the CFIA” under provincial registration, he says, “but the CFIA does have jurisdiction to come in through the Food and Drug Act and they do occasionally come into our plant.” He uses, as an example, inspections the agency undertook after the 2008 listeriosis outbreak traced to a Maple Leaf plant. Listeriosis-prevention “was a policy that they wanted to come into the provincial plants and make sure it was being taken care of as per the federal regs.”

Overall, Van Groningen says, the recommendations are good. “I can’t see anything there, just going over it quickly, that would be negative for a small plant.”

In a news release, the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president Martin Unrau spoke positively about the new rules as well.

“The CCA is passionate about reducing E. coli and these new controls will enhance industry efforts in the fight against E. coli,” he stated. Some forms of E. coli bacteria can cause food poisoning in people.

Some of the other new requirements listed on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s website are:

• Federally-registered plants that make products such as ground beef from beef trim must develop plans on how they would respond to E. coli-positive test results;
• Additional testing will be required for plants that make ground beef and beef patties;
• Plants producing mechanically tenderized beef cuts such as roasts and steaks to be sold in stores must include cooking instructions;
• Plants will have to provide details about production and distribution promptly when asked for by the CFIA;
• The CFIA will step up its testing for E. coli in plants where beef trim is made;
• The CFIA will use production volume to determine the number of samples annually taken at a plant, as well as other risk factors such as the plant’s track record

The changes take effect July 2. BF