Chopped Liver, Everyone?

Comedians like Don Rickles, whenever he felt slighted, would turn to host Johnny Carson and ask, "What am I, chopped liver?"

I couldn't help but think of that line when I read this story in today's Star, which reveals the following:

[The Canadian Food Inspection Agency] stopped allowing XL Foods to export its beef to the U.S. on Sept. 13, but did not inform Canadians about the health hazard or the voluntary recalls until after it had completed an in-depth investigation at the plant on Sept. 16.

It would seem the Harper government is not the only body that holds the Canadian public in contempt.

Everyone is a Politician These Days

Echoing the Conservative government's 'hang tough' attitude that means never having to say you're sorry, XL Foods had this to say about the tainted beef scandal they are at the centre of:

“XL Foods is committed to producing high-quality beef products and the safety and well-being of our consumers is our number one priority. We will continue to act in their best interests throughout the implementation of the enhanced food safety systems. Food safety is simply too important to our customers, our employees and our business.”

It issued no apology to those who have fallen ill – four cases, none of them fatal, have been linked to the recall, with more under investigation. Instead, echoing its previous statements, XL Foods said simply it’s committed to food quality.

With their tendency toward passivity and indifference, will the Canadian public deem this platitudinous public relations effort sufficient?

Assumptions Can Be Dangerous

[Former Ontario Premier Mike] Harris assumed that small Ontario towns like Walkerton would have the good sense to keep their drinking water clean.

[Prime Minister Stephen] Harper assumed that profit-making companies would make sure that their consumers received safe products.

In both cases, they were wrong.

This excerpt from Thomas Walkom's Star column is a sobering reminder of the potentially deadly consequences of the deregulation mentality embraced by the right-wing in conjunction with its credo that business can do things better and more efficiently than government.

The shortcomings of such naive faith in industry self-regulation becomes obvious as more information is revealed about the XL Foods tainted meat scandal that has prompted the biggest recall in Canadian history. As reported earlier, three weeks elapsed between the discovery of E.coli in XL Foods' Lakeside Packers plant in Alberta and the actual meat recall. The responsibility for the time lag appears to rest solely with the company.

As reported by Joanna Smith in today's Star,

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture both discovered E. coli O157:H7 ... on beef products originating from the XL Foods Inc. plant in Brooks, Alta. on Sept. 4.

A request for full documentation of the problem was made on Sept.6 by the frontline staff of CFIA stationed at XL, but the documentation was not forthcoming.

The following statement is probably the most damning evidence of the failings of industry self-regulation:

“There was a delay in getting it . . . We have limited authority to compel immediate documentation,” George Da Pont, president of the food inspection agency, said during a news conference in Calgary on Wednesday.

Now in crisis mode, expect more fatuous assurances by the Harper regime of the safety of our food supply, even as its latest budget reduces the funding required to keep Canadian foods safe by 27 per cent.

But at least Harper Inc. is sending out a clear message to potential investors: Canada is open for business as it continues to reduce red tape and the 'heavy hand' of government 'interference.'

P.S. You might want to pack your own lunch.

A Quiet Dignity

There is a quiet dignity evident in a series of ads sponsored by a labour union supporting Obama's re-election bid. Although obviously directed to an American audience, the message is one that should not be ignored in Canada as various levels of government jump on the austerity bandwagon.

Not To State The Obvious But ....

Canada’s food safety regime failed us

So goes the title of The Star's editorial this morning as it raises some very pressing questions about how over three weeks elapsed between the discovery of E.coli in the XL Foods' Lakeside Packers plant in Alberta and the meat recall that will likely be the largest in Canadian history.

In a stunning display of ministerial incompetence, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz's claims that Canada’s food inspection system has done a “tremendous job”. To make matters worse, at one point he thought that no potentially tainted beef had made it to store shelves.

As I noted yesterday, we can expect no accountability in the foreseeable future from a government that had largely delegated our food safety to industry self-regulation. However, perhaps a sobering understatement by Bob Kingston, president of the food inspectors’ Agriculture Union, puts things into their needed perspective:

Ottawa has put too much faith in private companies to do their own testing.

Unfortunately, I suspect those words will fork no lightning with the ideologically-driven Harper regime.

How Does Walmart Keep Their Prices So Low?

Here's a hint:

I'll Have a Veggie Burger, Please

In light of the widespread dissemination of tainted beef by XL Foods, one has to ask the role changes made by the Harper regime in Canada's food inspection process played.

According to a Globe report,

The list of stores and products affected by the recall is now so long that consumers are advised to inquire at the point of purchase whether the beef they’re buying came from XL Foods.

Exactly how could this have happened? Despite the fact that it was September 4th when E.coli was first detected in the plant, it wasn't until three weeks later that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency acted.

The answer seems to lie in cost-cutting changes implemented by our government 'protectors' in Ottawa which naively (or is it ideologically?) place a great deal of faith in the industry's capacity to self-regulate.

As noted in the preamble on the CFIA website,

The CFIA and industry both have roles to play in achieving safe, wholesome products for consumers. The CFIA conducts inspections, tests products and verifies that industry is complying with the regulations that the CFIA enforces. Industry plays an important role in keeping Canada's food safe by identifying and managing food safety risks and by complying with all of Canada's food safety regulations.

A far more detailed breakdown of the responsibilities of industry can be found on the site, but amongst the most noteworthy is the following:

It is in the food industry's best interest to comply with regulations. In fact, industry works to:

Identify potential sources of food contamination

Update production practices to eliminate risk

Comply with the inspection and testing protocols

Pull unsafe products from the marketplace

Clearly, this did not happen with XL Foods, whose list of recalls now numbers over 33 pages, recalls that were not initiated until CFIA suspended its licence three weeks after the discovery of E.coli.

But don't expect the Harper cabal to admit their complicity anytime soon. When questioned in the House of Commons by both Thomas Mulcair and Bob Rae, misdirection was the order of the day. I won't bother reproducing the lies here, but please do check them out on the Macleans website.

All of the political jockeying amply demonstrates one thing: our representatives are very adept at protecting themselves; it is unfortunate that they are unwilling to do the same for us.