Meat safety compromised by major slaughterhouse mess
Inspection reports reveal 'poor sanitary standards'
Chad Skelton
Vancouver Sun
More than half the slaughterhouses in Canada have "major" deficiencies that could compromise the safety of their meat products, according to internal inspection reports obtained by The Vancouver Sun.
"It's evidence of a huge problem," said Michael McBane, national coordinator for the Canadian Health Coalition, a watchdog group.
"It is is evidence of very poor sanitary standards [and it] should worry anybody who is eating meat."
Among unsanitary conditions identified in the reports were fecal material on a carcass, flies entering a facility through an open door, carcasses stored on a floor, and mould on knife storage containers.
Michael Hansen, a U.S. food safety expert with the Consumers Union -- the independent agency that publishes Consumer Reports magazine, said he was particularly concerned the inspection reports show fecal matter was found on a carcass because that is one of the primary ways in which the E. coli bacteria is spread.
Concerns about Canada's meat products and slaughterhouse procedures were raised earlier this year when federal scientists discovered a lone case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy -- or mad cow disease -- in an Alberta cow on May 20.
Following the BSE scare, The Sun made a request under the Access to Information Act for the most recent monthly inspection reports for all federally regulated slaughterhouses.
In response, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency provided The Sun with reports for 106 slaughterhouses, most written in May or June of this year.
Of those reports, 61 (57.5 per cent) list at least one "major deviation" from regulations -- everything from the mistreatment of animals to fecal matter on carcasses.
Another 39 (36.8 per cent) listed minor deviations. Only six (5.7 per cent) had no deviations at all.
According to the CFIA's own Manual of Procedures, a major deviation is defined as a problem "that could jeopardize the wholesomeness of the product ... measures to eliminate the hazard concerning the safety of the products produced are to be taken immediately."
However, Robert Charlebois, national manager of the CFIA's meat program, said the public should not be concerned about the quality of their meat -- because federal inspectors are present at slaughterhouses at all times.
"The public need not be ... concerned with these facts," Charlebois said. "Actions are taken immediately by CFIA staff when we are facing any food safety issues."
Details of some of the major problems identified in the reports include:
- "Fecal material on carcass in cooler" at Superior Exports in Ontario;
- "Flies entering" an open door at Britco Pork in Langley, B.C.;
- "Carcasses stored on the floor" at J&M Meats International in Alberta;
- "Mould present on knife storage containers" at Maple Leaf Poultry in Nova Scotia;
- Inadequate handling of birds in the kill room and unclean cages at Uniturkey in Quebec.
Most of the problems noted in the reports concern issues of sanitation and cleanliness.
"One animal can contaminate many others," said Hansen, who has a PhD in biology. "So if you don't have very clean conditions ... then those bacteria can grow and multiply. If it's a very unhygenic slaughterhouse, it's easy for a lot of things to get infected."
Hansen said he was particularly concerned about fecal matter on a carcass.
"Those are basically gut bacteria, so the way they are contaminating meat is by fecal content," he said.
None of the inspection reports explicitly mention mad cow disease. But Hansen said the rate of non-compliance makes him wonder how well new regulations introduced by the CFIA in July to prevent BSE are being followed.
"The fact that the inspection records show there are so many problems -- that raises concern about how well the system for BSE regulations is working," Hansen said. "It doesn't give one a lot of confidence."
One inspection report from June, for Bouvry Exports in Alberta, notes there were "carcasses in cooler with spinal cords present".
The agent that causes BSE is believed to reside in spinal fluid. As a result, new regulations passed in July require the spinal cord to be removed from all cattle carcasses "in order to prevent tissues that may contain BSE infectivity from entering the human food chain".
However, even before new BSE regulations were put in place, existing regulations required the removal of spinal cords from red meat carcasses.
The inspection report for Bouvry Exports -- which slaughters several types of animals, including horses and cattle -- does not identify what type of animal carcasses were found with their spinal cords intact.
However, Dolores Neilson, the CFIA's regional coordinator in southern Alberta, said it was "highly likely" that the report was referring to cattle carcasses.
Martin Conrad, food safety coordinator at Bouvry Exports, said the problems identified in the CFIA reports have since been rectified -- and that the meat products produced by his plant are safe.
"It's not a perfect world and every plant has got problems to deal with," Conrad said. "But as far as the safety of the product, that's something we take very seriously."
Kevin McCullough, president of J&M Meats International, said the carcasses found on the floor of his plant were an isolated incident caused by carcasses slipping off a piece of plastic. He said it hasn't happened again since, and described the products produced by his plant as "good quality".
Paul Beauchamp, a spokesman for Uniturkey, said the plant has new policies for the handling of birds in the kill room and has cleaned their cages since the inspection report.
"We corrected all those elements and I think everything is now fine," he said.
Mike Lee, manager of the Maple Leaf Poultry plant in Nova Scotia, said the problem with mold identified in the report was fixed immediately.
"As soon as it was brought to our attention it was corrected immediately," Lee said. "At Maple Leaf Foods, we are extremely committed to food safety. We take it very seriously."
Superior Exports is temporarily closed and no one was answering the plant's phone Tuesday.
Messages left for Britco Pork were not returned Tuesday.
The CFIA has been slowly phasing out independent inspections of slaughterhouses and been moving towards a self-regulated industry system.
Under the new system, instead of government inspectors being present on slaughterhouse lines, slaughterhouse employees will be taught how to foresee and identify hazards themselves.
Charlebois said the new system -- which will become mandatory over the next few years -- is safe, because federal inspectors will still be on site at all times.
But McBane said the high rate of non-compliance revealed in the inspection reports obtained by The Sun suggests the industry is not yet ready to regulate itself.
"We should have a stronger inspection system," said McBane. "The industry and their partners at the CFIA are playing Russian roulette with food safety."
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HOW MEAT CAN BE DANGEROUS
A variety of bacteria and diseases can be spread through meat that has been improperly slaughtered or handled. Some examples are:
E. coli O157:H7 : E. coli is a highly virulent bacteria that can stay alive in a cow's fecal matter and contaminate meat during slaughter. It can cause illnesses range from mild diarrhea to premature death. Symptoms of E. coli infection include abdominal cramps, vomiting, diarrhea and sometimes fever;
Salmonella: Salmonella bacteria live in the intestinal tracts of domestic animals and can contaminate raw meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products. Like E. coli, salmonella can be spread through the fecal matter of an animal during slaughter. In humans, the disease usually causes an acute gastrointestinal disease lasting four to seven days, with symptoms including diarrhea, fever, or abdominal cramps. In rare cases, it can be fatal;
Listeria: The listeria bacteria is widespread in nature, particularly in soil and vegetation. It can infect meat during the slaughtering process, and is most dangerous in unheated meat products, like cold cuts. Generally less dangerous than salmonella or E. coli, listeria can lead to the sudden onset of fever, severe headache, vomiting, and other flu-like symptoms. However, it can be particularly dangerous to pregnant women, and may cause babies to be stillborn.