CROSBY, ONTARIO –
Hundreds of Ontario meat processing
plants that never receive a visit
from a Meat Hygiene Officer must be
brought into the provincial meat
inspection system immediately, the
Ontario Public Service Employees
Union says.
“Beginning in 2003,
the McGuinty government made a
number of improvements to the
provincial meat inspection system
and restored Ontarians’ confidence
in the safety of the food they eat,”
said Bob Eaton, OPSEU regional
vice-president for eastern Ontario.
“We believe the system is strong and
safe where our inspectors are
present. The problem that remains is
that a lot of freestanding plants
are not yet covered by the
provincial inspection system.
“We’ve come a long
way, but Ontario can do better,”
Eaton said.
“The McGuinty
government has started to bring
freestanding meat plants into the
provincial inspection system, but
the progress to date has been far
too slow,” he said. “There are more
than 1,000 plants out there that are
not receiving the inspection they
need. This is a critically important
public safety issue, and we are
calling on all parties to commit to
dealing with it immediately –
regardless of who gets elected on
Oct. 10.”
In Ontario,
so-called “freestanding” meat plants
do not slaughter animals but process
meat through butchering, smoking,
fermentation, and so on. They are
not federally registered. Most
receive only occasional visits from
municipal health inspectors
concerned with sanitation issues,
Eaton said.
“Sanitation is only
a small part of food safety,
especially when meat is involved,”
said Eaton. “Freestanding plants
need to be brought into the system
so meat inspectors can work with the
operators to bring them up to
provincial standards, and it has to
happen now.”
The Ontario Ministry
of Agriculture, Food, and Rural
Affairs does not know exactly how
many freestanding meat plants are
operating and has no program in
place to locate them, the union has
learned from ministry officials.
“Our provincial meat
inspectors are doing a great job of
protecting the public, but if they
aren’t going into hundreds of plants
then it’s only a matter of time
before we have another meat safety
crisis in Ontario,” said Eaton,
referring to the 2003 “deadstock”
scandal at a slaughterhouse in
Aylmer, Ontario.
Eaton made his
comments today at the International
Plowing Match in Crosby, Ontario,
where the union is promoting a broad
campaign to maintain a strong
provincial meat safety system.
