Supplier says his hands clean in case of bad meat

An Ontario chicken supplier linked to an unrefrigerated delivery van full of raw chicken destined for an Ottawa store says the factory farm was not involved in any wrongdoing.

Wellington Poultry Ltd. located in Arthur, Ont., north of Kitchener, was one of about a dozen Ontario food suppliers with products discovered inside a van suspected to be overloaded heading east on Highway 401 at Mallorytown Jan. 19.

When the Ontario Provincial Police’s highway enforcement officer pulled the vehicle over, they discovered it contained about 1,600 kilograms of raw meat, including chicken and duck, destined for a specialty food store in Ottawa. The Leeds and Grenville health department inspected the goods and declared the meat unfit for consumption.

The entire load was destroyed and the 41-year-old driver was charged under the Highway Traffic Act for carrying a load over the legal limit.

Ed Lam, a sales manager at Wellington Poultry, said it would be impossible for a single person to purchase boxes of chicken from him because they only sell to largescale wholesalers in the Toronto area — and they transport the poultry in bulk themselves in refrigerated vans.

“It’s not our driver, I have no idea who that person is,” Lam said. “We deal with the wholesalers, and this guy is just a driver and he picks up products from everywhere, I suppose.”

Lam said the bulk of the chicken they sell ends up in Asian markets.

“We are fully licensed, we have inspectors on site all day, so our product is safe. It’s just that when people don’t handle it properly, that’s the danger in this. We have a refrigerated truck and we ship it to wholesalers. We drop it off at their warehouse. It gets from our place to Point B, it’s safe and everything is good. And this person probably got it from Point C, D, who knows.”

One of the wholesalers on Lam’s list is Smithville Meat Wholesaler in Mississauga. Company manager Connie Pang said, like Lam, the meat they sell only leaves their warehouse in refrigerated company vans.

“We have our own refrigerated transportation to deliver to our clients, and that has been the law for over 10 years. When we deliver to the clients — whether a restaurant or supermarket — they have to be (in) refrigerated transportation.”

After the news broke that an Ottawa store was expected to receive the spoiled chicken, the public expressed concern through comments and emails, wanting to know where the meat was headed.

OPP Const. Sandra Barr would not release the store’s name.

“I haven’t heard (the name), that would be a good question for the health unit … we covered the traffic portion and any of the food-related charges would be covered by the health unit.”

Postmedia has made attempts to contact the Leeds food safety department’s inspector on the case without success.

Ottawa Public Health has been in contact with the Leeds department to learn where the order was destined.

“Upon receiving such information, OPH will follow up with both the retailer and the necessary authorities to ensure the standards are upheld,” said Daniel Osterer, program and project management officer with OPH.

He added stores or restaurants receiving shipments have the right to refuse a delivery if it’s suspected to be spoiled.

Results of food safety inspections of Ottawa restaurants, which include practices related to temperature of foods, food handling steps, hand washing, and ensuring no cross-contamination, is found at OttawaRestaurantInspections.ca