XL Foods Announces Temporary Layoffs

[SheriMonk]

The only loyalty I have is to the truth.

And thanks to my insatiable curiosity, that usually
works out.

Unfortunately, it tends to ruin many Saturday nights.

[greybeard]

Most important statement in this whole thread:
Your plant will have to run under the same CFIA
that Lakeside does.
Dysfunctional out of control empire.
Can them all and look for a better model.

[cpallett]

But Alberta's NDP leader Brian Mason again pushed for a provincial inquiry, slamming Premier Alison Redford for not entertaining the idea.

"I do think that it's important that this provincial government speak up for good, solid inspection in the plant, and in the meat industry in general," he said.

"It's the best defense for our beef industry."

Amen

[ALLFARMER]

This recall keeps gets worse by the day.

CFIA and the union think they are going to dictate
to NBI how to run the plant? DREAM ON!

Alsask Edmonton, Moose Jaw, Calgary all old
plants owned by NBI and shut down. Is it really to
big a stretch to think they won't do it again in
Brooks?? I don't blame NBI at this point in the
game, CFIA is burning NBI money on a daily
basis.

NBI will not spend the money trying to turn a sows
ear into a silk purse.

[jensend]

here's what i think is going on. cfia have had their butts blistered for letting xl push them around with the self regulation argument so now they're telling ritz if he wants them to do their job it will be done down to the letter. xl has decided they don't want to bring their piece of shit plant up to standards so they're going to play hardball using workers and the cattle industry as pawns. rick paskal and everybody else know that the nb will use whatever tactics are at hand. they want the plant open so cfia becomes the scapegoat. i'm not surprised this situation has come about at that plant and i'm not surprised nb will play this way. i'm also wondering if nb stepped on a few toes south of the line and that is why the americans were so quick to find this. my guess is that cargill has close to a million dollar/day windfall out of this.

[grassfarmer]

Greybeard "Most important statement in this whole
thread: Your plant will have to run under the same
CFIA that Lakeside does."
Not so sure about that - same organisation, but not
necessarily the same rules. The CFIA enforcement of
rules on smaller plants is draconian - on these huge
plants obviously non-existent. Remember that the
rules governing small plants were set up after active
lobbying by the big packers - in effect they were able
to handicap their smaller competitors.

Allfarmer "I don't blame NBI at this point in the
game" - clueless as always.

[gcreekrch]

Iain and Randy, what kind of songs would you be singing if something wrong was found in YOUR product?

Don't say it can't happen.

Kind of hard to move forward by staring in the rearview mirror!

Transition is tough, adjustments hard to accept. Another player or two may start up. Kind of doubt it will be any American outfits as their costs are $100 per head cheaper than ours. More if you factor in the discounts they will keep on purchase of Canadian cattle.

Best of luck when the CFIA crew at Brooks has time on their hands to scrutinize the lil' fellas more diligently. You can bet THEY won't be laid off!

[grassfarmer]

Dave, you don't seem to understand that the plants I
use are already rigorously inspected to far higher
standards. I know talking to the operators on a
regular basis that there are almost constant requests
from the inspectors wanting them to invest in
upgrades and improvements.
The good plants comply - the lesser ones don't and
get closed.
As for getting my product recalled - I don't say it
couldn't happen but the chances are so much less.
When my beef gets cut they bring it out of the cooler
a half at a time, cut it up for that customer or
customers if it's quarters, then grind the trim off that
animal. Then start afresh with the next half. The
usual culprit in big plant ecoli recalls is the vat where
the trim of hundreds of animals is combined. That's a
big part of the problem right there.
I certainly don't lose sleep worrying about my cattle
being processed at a good quality operation. It's not
cheap getting them processed there and maybe that's
a good thing? When you go cheap that's when
corners get cut.

[kato]

Boy has this place been hopping since last time I checked in!

IMHO, we are witness to a giant sized pissing contest. We all need umbrellas.

Everyone involved is wrong to some extent, and there are no innocent players. It's too bad that nobody seems to have any interest in the good of the cattle and beef industry in this country. They "say" they do, but they don't really mean it.

This situation needs someone at the top (aka King Harper) to step in and replace whatever players he has firing power over. Not some of them, all of them. Then he needs to send a message that this thing needs to be resolved, and it needs to be done ASAP. Leadership is needed here so badly it defies belief. It's like the inmates have taken control of the asylum.

But first, I guess he needs to quit hiding out in Africa.....

[gaucho]

Alsask Burnt down, Moosejaw was consolidated and Calgary mothballed while they took on Lakeside.... they have no problem shutting down plants. The reality is that they made money with the plant, still owe Tyson 2 payments so I guess let them have it back,,, they did after all make money. Yes CFIA would have given them the green light Monday to go but they are no dummies as they are well aware the XL brand is so damaged that good luck finding enough customers that will take 4000 head plus per day of beef...NBI still has plants state side and if they want they could fire up Calgary again... there was a complete upgrade on the kill side done a year before they stumbled upon the offer from Tyson. By them pulling the trigger and laying off workers which now gladly find an excuse to find work elsewhere now that they are "laid Off temporarily" By closing NBI can conveniently try and push the blame on the Government and how they wrecked everything for them. My bet is that they will try and leverage a drop in cattle prices to have ranchers screaming to govt for money. Even if that happened which I doubt it will they woudl still flip the asset.

Lakeside RIP

[gcreekrch]

Iain, I sincerely hope you never do have any trouble, you have worked hard getting a customer base.

Kato, pissing matches don't do much good for anyone, it frustrates me that folks spend so much time looking to blame a cuprit rather than seeking a solution that will do some good. Unfortunately we can't all jump into a niche market situation as that would basically cause the same effect as the commodity market has now.

Gaucho, I know a few stories of your operation that I wouldn't be proud of so careful how high a fence you start crowing from.

[gaucho]

I don't think I am crowing just stating the facts on business transactions that NBI has done in the past. If you look at the past it will most certainly tell you a lot about the future. The reality was that there was always a risk having just 2 packers... one might have closed the doors because of no business future, but I never would have thought an ecoli would have toppled on of them.

gcreekrch as far as stories, I would love to show you what we do up here because I am certain the stories you have herd couldn't be further from the truth. I guess that what happens when you are out of the box for the locals who have always done things the same way for the last 50 years.

[GaryE]

There's lots of blame and finger pointing but common to these threads is that XL screwed up and CFIA was asleep on their watch.
XL probably won't/can't reopen Lakeside on their own and we still need slaughter capacity in Canada.
I would suggest that we have an independent audit from a "credible" firm on the requirements/changes needed to re-open the Lakeside facility so that there is public confidence in the product produced by the plant.
This would exclude XL from conducting an internal audit, Cargill from conducting a biased audit and CFIA because of their current lack of credibility on the subject in this area.
If you could forward me your ideas, I would appreciate hearing from you. Your confidentiality will be respected.
g.etherington@hmsinet.ca

[grassfarmer]

What is the point Gary? The Canadian Government is
not going to close down one of their agencies (CFIA)
because a few people here or there are questioning
the validity of its work in this instance. CFIA is and
will remain the regulator of slaughter plants in
Canada.

[mcfarms]

I heard on the radio while I was hauling water to cows that CFIA is saying its only or primary role is to ensure safe food for consumers, Do they not realise they have a role to protect producers interests as well in the course of their mandate.
Who's role is it then CFIA do I need to hire a inspector to follow you around to insure my business from your ineptitude , and follow up ass covering , which I believe we are now seeing in spades.