CFIA allows limited processing to resume at XL Foods
By Food in Canada magazine staff
Business Operations Facilities Maintenance Food Safety Processing Regulation Canadian Food Inspection Agency CFIA plantThe CFIA has allowed XL Foods to open only partly and process carcasses but with CFIA inspectors present; no meat will be allowed to leave
Brooks, Alta. – News outlets are reporting that XL Foods’ plant in Alberta, the one at the centre of a massive product recall due to E. coli contamination, has been allowed to resume processing.
The OttawaCitizen.com reports that workers were back on the line today processing more than 5,000 carcasses from cattle slaughtered in the days before the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) suspended the plant’s operating licence.
These carcasses have tested negative for E. coli.
CFIA inspectors will be present during the processing, which will also allow them to assess the plant’s food safety controls.
The processed meat won’t be allowed to leave the plant, the story reports.
Partial opening is part of next stage of review
A story on Reuters.com reports that the resumption of limited processing only marks the next stage in a review of the company’s improvements to the plant.
The plant has been shut down for nearly two weeks, reports Reuters, causing Western Canadian ranchers and feedlots to hold back cattle from market longer than usual, incurring extra costs.
Other cattle are headed to slaughter plants in Nebraska, Utah and Washington.
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