Beef from XL Foods plant dumped at Brooks landfill
By Bryan Weismiller, Calgary Herald October 21, 2012
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency temporarily suspended XL Foods Inc. licence to operate Thursday after tainted beef ended up on grocery store shelves. Some employees were spotted back at the meat packing plant in Brooks Friday, but security barred reporters from getting near the building.Photograph by: Bryan Weismiller , Calgary HeraldCALGARY— Dump trucks teeming with recalled beef from the XL Foods Inc. plant rolled in to a Brooks landfill Saturday morning.
The first load arrived about 8 a.m. for disposal at the Newell Regional Solid Waste Management Authority. And another seven trucks dropped off similar-sized containers of frozen stock before noon, said landfill manager Ray Juska.
The meat is being compacted in an industrial-grade, clay-lined cell.
Juska described the dumped contents as offal – internal organs and discarded byproducts from slaughter.
“We’re not getting striploins and T-bones,” he said.
Federal food inspectors have seized more than 5.5-million kilograms of beef from the beleaguered plant at the heart of a massive E. coli recall.
On Friday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the meat packer may be allowed to send some of the recalled beef to market if it is cooked at a high enough temperature to kill off any possible bacteria.
But later that day, the agency said all meat involved in the recall had been returned to XL Foods and will be destroyed.
Landfill officials expect to work into the night Saturday and again on Sunday.
“If it’s still coming, we’ll keep going,” Juska said, adding he believes it’s an important step to getting the XL Foods plant back up and running.
Food safety inspectors are supervising the disposal. The CFIA announced Friday it would be drafting recommendations for the shuttered plant over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Brooks Mayor Martin Shields believes the town’s largest employer will reopen next week. Shields said he was told by the plant’s manager that groups of workers would be recalled on Monday for an orientation with the new owners, Brazil-based JBS USA.
A CFIA spokeswoman said it’s too early to speculate on when the meat packing facility will resume normal operations.
But Shields expects the inspection agency will give the green light to Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz by Tuesday.
“Sounds pretty clear to me that it’s going to go ahead,” he said in an interview Saturday.
However, the mayor was quick to point out that everything is not rosy in cattle country. He said more than $200,000 in wages is lost each day while 2,000 plant workers sit at home.
The XL Foods plant — which has been closed since Sept. 27 — is the town’s economic engine, employing roughly one in every six residents.
“We’re dealing with an economic situation,” Shields said. “People have to understand there are still a lot of people at the food bank.”
Speaking to reporters in Edmonton, Premier Alison Redford said it is “the end of the third week of a very difficult situation.”
“Every time I talk about it, the first thing I say is the quality of the product we are producing in Alberta is of a high quality and high standard,” Redford said. “It’s an excellent product and we want to encourage people to keep consuming it.”
Some 16 people across the country have become sick from bacteria in products sourced from the Brooks meat-packing plant.
bweismiller@calgaryherald.com
With files from The Edmonton Journal and The Canadian Press
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
By Bryan Weismiller, Calgary Herald October 21, 2012
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency temporarily suspended XL Foods Inc. licence to operate Thursday after tainted beef ended up on grocery store shelves. Some employees were spotted back at the meat packing plant in Brooks Friday, but security barred reporters from getting near the building.Photograph by: Bryan Weismiller , Calgary HeraldCALGARY— Dump trucks teeming with recalled beef from the XL Foods Inc. plant rolled in to a Brooks landfill Saturday morning.
The first load arrived about 8 a.m. for disposal at the Newell Regional Solid Waste Management Authority. And another seven trucks dropped off similar-sized containers of frozen stock before noon, said landfill manager Ray Juska.
The meat is being compacted in an industrial-grade, clay-lined cell.
Juska described the dumped contents as offal – internal organs and discarded byproducts from slaughter.
“We’re not getting striploins and T-bones,” he said.
Federal food inspectors have seized more than 5.5-million kilograms of beef from the beleaguered plant at the heart of a massive E. coli recall.
On Friday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the meat packer may be allowed to send some of the recalled beef to market if it is cooked at a high enough temperature to kill off any possible bacteria.
But later that day, the agency said all meat involved in the recall had been returned to XL Foods and will be destroyed.
Landfill officials expect to work into the night Saturday and again on Sunday.
“If it’s still coming, we’ll keep going,” Juska said, adding he believes it’s an important step to getting the XL Foods plant back up and running.
Food safety inspectors are supervising the disposal. The CFIA announced Friday it would be drafting recommendations for the shuttered plant over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Brooks Mayor Martin Shields believes the town’s largest employer will reopen next week. Shields said he was told by the plant’s manager that groups of workers would be recalled on Monday for an orientation with the new owners, Brazil-based JBS USA.
A CFIA spokeswoman said it’s too early to speculate on when the meat packing facility will resume normal operations.
But Shields expects the inspection agency will give the green light to Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz by Tuesday.
“Sounds pretty clear to me that it’s going to go ahead,” he said in an interview Saturday.
However, the mayor was quick to point out that everything is not rosy in cattle country. He said more than $200,000 in wages is lost each day while 2,000 plant workers sit at home.
The XL Foods plant — which has been closed since Sept. 27 — is the town’s economic engine, employing roughly one in every six residents.
“We’re dealing with an economic situation,” Shields said. “People have to understand there are still a lot of people at the food bank.”
Speaking to reporters in Edmonton, Premier Alison Redford said it is “the end of the third week of a very difficult situation.”
“Every time I talk about it, the first thing I say is the quality of the product we are producing in Alberta is of a high quality and high standard,” Redford said. “It’s an excellent product and we want to encourage people to keep consuming it.”
Some 16 people across the country have become sick from bacteria in products sourced from the Brooks meat-packing plant.
bweismiller@calgaryherald.com
With files from The Edmonton Journal and The Canadian Press
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Comment