CREDIT: TORONTOSUN.COM
The XL Foods plant in Alberta put contaminated meat on grocery store shelves for over a month before it was recalled.

The XL Foods plant in Brooks, Alberta is open once again under new management, and this time, they are operating at rock bottom. With no certification from the Global Food Safety Initiative until next year, the only standards they have are their own. After 16 people became sick from the contaminated beef that was processed at the XL facility, Gerry Ritz, the minister of agriculture, seems more concerned with covering his footprints than solving the problem.

When you consider the fact that contaminated food was available for public consumption for over a month until the government acted upon it, you can only wonder what XL's standards might be. What is known for certain is that XL's standards are much lower than global standards.

Pierre Lemieux, secretary for the minister of agriculture, recently stated that "the government will continue to provide the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) the resources it needs to make sure safe foods come out of the plant."

This is in light of comments made by the Food Technology Centre in Guelph, that stated, "CFIA standards are at the bare minimum." This means some level of contamination is actually being overlooked as it leaves the plant and goes to consumers.

The NDP and Liberal parties have both accused Gerry Ritz and the CFIA of knowing about the contaminated products for a full month before 2,000 of them were recalled from the shelves. Ritz could only reply, "The CFIA did not have the power to compel XL Foods to disclose the information needed to prevent and manage the crisis." Ritz's right-hand man, Lemieux, argued the government will continue to provide the CFIA the resources it needs to make sure safe foods come out of the plant. These are two very contradictory statements. Especially since, according to what Ritz and Lemieux are saying, the CFIA will not have the power to prevent XL Foods from another such catastrophe if it were to occur in the immediate future. To put this into context, how can the government provide the CFIA with the resources it needs to ensure safe foods come out of the facility when they do not have the power to compel them to disclose information regarding the issue? In response to these concerns, the CFIA sent Ritz a memo letting him know that no products will be leaving the plant until they are tested to be safe. Yet XL has opened its doors once again, with no real certification save for what they have given themselves.

The people who are leading the investigation into the problem happen to be the honourable Gerry Ritz and his good friends at the CFIA. These are the same people who let the XL Foods crisis happen. What they have uncovered has yet to be released, but they claim to have a solution… the solution being more funding and inspectors for the CFIA, as well as suggesting all parties vote for the upcoming Safe Food for Canadians Act. Some believe this bill will do little to change the future due to it only giving more power to the CFIA. Not only this, the CFIA gave XL Foods their new licence so they could reopen. All this and the Tories still believe that the solution to this problem is to give the CFIA more funding.

If the truth is to be told, XL Foods is open for business and not certified. They could easily repeat the mistakes of August and September at any time. The same people who knew what was going on and stood idly by while beef not fit for consumption in the U.S.A. was sold to Canadians are now leading a review to investigate the situation, not to mention the fact that Ritz stated the CFIA did not have the power to call XL Foods into question. This last point is the biggest fallacy of all. At any time the CFIA can call XL Foods into account and demand answers for the Canadians who got sick eating tainted beef. The problem is, they refuse to take this action. The CFIA continues to do exactly what Ritz tells them. They seem more interested in the reopening of XL Foods and giving them a licence than actually holding anyone accountable. If Ritz and those in his party do not hold anyone accountable and keep siding with industry over the health and wellbeing of Canadians, we can look forward to seeing a repeat of the XL Foods crisis in the next decade.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.