Canadians eating less beef since recall
New survey says 42% cut intake due to E. coli scare
Two out of every five Canadians say they have reduced their consumption of beef in the wake of a massive recall linked to an Alberta packer, according to a new survey.
Taken in late November a month after slaughter operations resumed at the Brooks facility, the Internet poll found 42 per cent of consumers were eating less beef or had eliminated it entirely from their diet when asked whether concerns about E. coli contamination had affected their consumption.
While the numbers are similar to those in another public opinion survey taken at the height of the XL Foods Inc. controversy earlier this fall, a spokesman for the Canadian Cattleman’s Association was dismissive of the results.
Mark Klassen, the association’s director of technical services, said the survey’s question was loaded.
While consumption of beef may have dropped recently, Klassen said the true measure of the recall’s impact will come months from now, when beef supply has returned to normal levels.
“One of the country’s largest processors simply wasn’t operating and that affected the supply in supermarkets,” he said.
“Over time, people will also become more comfortable.”
Figures from Statistics Canada show consumption was already in decline in recent years and the federal agriculture department has predicted per capita use will slide further due to the rising number of Asian immigrants with diets that often don’t include beef.
While the incidence of E. coli illness has actually been declining in recent years, the survey found that over half the people in the country believe cases of poisoning involving the bacteria are actually on the rise.
The poll found that ensuring food safety topped reducing the federal deficit as an issue of concern, with processors and the federal inspection agency sharing the main responsibility for ensuring beef was free of contamination.
While some 15 per cent of re- spondents said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was not doing enough to ensure food safety, the federal agriculture minister defended its record.
“Our government will continue to provide the CFIA with the budget and the workforce necessary to improve our already robust food safety system,” Gerry Ritz said in an email reply to questions.
The late November poll of 1,000 adults by Praxicus Public Strategies Inc. has a margin of error of 3.1 per cent.
The survey was commissioned by the Canadian Food Safety Institute, an organization whose main source of funding is a firm that has developed a vaccine for cattle that it says can eliminate E. coli bacteria from animals before slaughter.
JBS, the Brazil-based meat-packing giant that is now operating the XL facility under an agreement with its owner, said the plant is currently operating at about 75 per cent of capacity.
With last week’s announcement by American officials that the facility could resume exporting beef south of the border, JBS spokesman Cameron Bruett said production will be ramped up to the maximum of 3,800 head a day in accordance with CFIA protocols.