Plant slow to give data, official says

Inspection agency says slaughterhouse delayed information on E. coli

OTTAWA— The Alberta slaughterhouse at the centre of an E. coli scare was slow to provide key information that prompted a massive recall of its beef products, said the head of the food inspection agency.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture both discovered E. coli O157:H7 — bacteria that can cause headaches, nausea, severe stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea and even lead to kidney damage and death — on beef products originating from the XL Foods Inc. plant in Brooks, Alta., on Sept. 4.

The federal food safety watchdog said frontline staff — 40 inspectors and six veterinarians — stationed at the plant began investigating the problem immediately to make sure none of the affected product was on store shelves and asked for full documentation Sept. 6.

The first notice of what has now become the biggest meat recall in Canadian history was issued Sept. 16 after the CFIA completed an indepth investigation.

“There was a delay in getting it . . . We have limited authority to compel immediate documentation,” George Da Pont, president of the food inspection agency, said during a news conference in Calgary on Wednesday.

XL Foods has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Da Pont was explaining how the Safe Foods for Canadians Act, which the Conservative government introduced in the Senate in June, would help solve that problem when Meagan Murdoch, a spokeswoman for federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, shut down the news conference and told reporters that he would be available for one-on-one interviews.

The Star requested but did not receive an interview with Da Pont on Wednesday.

At the same news conference, Ritz said the XL Foods plant would remain shut until he is confident its beef is safe to eat.

The Brooks facility had its operating licence suspended indefinitely last week.

MPs were scheduled to hold an emergency debate on the recall Wednesday evening, and the topic dominated question period in the House of Commons.

Alberta Health Services has confirmed five people got sick after eating steaks produced by XL Foods tainted with E. coli, but it’s unknown if the bacteria came from the plant or the Edmonton Costco where the meat was purchased.