Canada-Concerns over meat safety.

CANADA — THE MEAT INSPECTION DEBATE AFTER RECALL OF MEAT MEAT THAT KILLED 22 PEOPLE.

After defending the workload of the inspector assigned to the Maple Leaf plant during the deadly food-borne outbreak last summer, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Wednesday assigned other inspectors to the six other establishments for which he was responsible.

When the outbreak occurred, the inspector stationed at the Toronto plant was responsible for two other meat-processing plants and four cold-storage facilities in the city in addition to the Maple Leaf plant, which includes 90,000 square feet of production spanning as many as 10 production lines.

All three meat-processing facilities required daily visits, as did one of the cold-storage facilities. Until Tuesday, the CFIA had an "enhanced inspection presence" at the Maple Leaf plant, so the inspector had dropped his other assignments because of the extra work. Normal operations resumed at the plant on Wednesday, but the CFIA decided to maintain the inspector’s pared down workload.

"I think they had to look at it. It was scientifically and mathematically impossible for him to do that workload," said Bob Kingston, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s agriculture union, which represents inspectors at federally registered meat plants across the country.

At the time of the listeriosis outbreak, the inspector was juggling seven facilities while using a new oversight system that required him to complete specific tasks on a prescribed timetable at the facilities and review additional paperwork produced by the operators; the Compliance Verification System (CVS) was introduced at all plants across the country four months before the outbreak.

Within weeks of its implementation, the union representing meat inspectors was flooded with complaints about being overloaded with paperwork at the expense of time on the plant floor. After the complaints surfaced at the height of the outbreak, Richard Arsenault, who oversees meat inspection for the agency, defended the workload of the Maple Leaf inspector, saying it was "normal and usual" for inspectors to be responsible for more than one plant.

In a statement, the CFIA explained that it initially reassigned the six other facilities to other inspectors because the agency was maintaining an "enhanced inspection presence" at the Maple Leaf plant "as part of the measures put in place to resume operations." This "required extra attention," the agency said.

For example, when operations resumed last fall, the CFIA had a "hold and test" protocol in place, requiring product samples be taken from each production line. This is no longer in place.

Maple Leaf Foods confirmed that the enhanced inspection presence officially ended on Tuesday and "normalized" regulatory oversight began on Wednesday.

"From a regulatory standpoint, as of (Wednesday) with the roll out of the new protocol, it’s business as usual. It’s normalized, that’s our understanding, that’s from the CFIA. Their term is ’normalized’ — that’s what they’ve said to us," said Maple Leaf spokeswoman Linda Smith.

The CFIA confirmed that while the inspector is now solely responsible for the Maple Leaf plant, he has begun this week "picking up inspections at other facilities due to coverage missed due to absences and illnesses."

The decision to reassign the six other facilities to other inspectors comes as the CFIA conducts a system-wide assessment of resource and staffing needs at meat plants as new guidelines come into effect, requiring inspection staff to conduct listeria testing more frequently. Meanwhile, the CFIA is also grappling with the reality that companies like Maple Leaf Foods are generating more paperwork with the implementation of more rigorous listeria testing and sanitation protocols that exceed CFIA guidelines.

"We recognize that our enhanced requirements for listeria will likely have an impact on workload and we are factoring this into our ongoing assessments for allocating our inspectors to maximize the effectiveness of our oversight for the protection of Canadians," said Cathy Airth, the CFIA’s associate vice president operations.

The agency’s internal review of the meat pilot study of CVS, completed before it was implemented across the system in April 2008 and released to Canwest News Service under Access to Information, found inspectors were able to complete their tasks within the expected time frame. The report, noting that inspectors also conducted a "significant number" of unplanned or "ad hoc tasks," called for a "regular review" of the new inspection system to make sure the frequency of tasks can be adjusted based on risk management principles.