Via CTV News: More self-regulation taking place at meat processing plants: union. Click through for the full report and a video. Excerpt:
The union representing federal food inspectors says it’s unaware of the hundreds of new positions the Government claims have been added to their ranks in recent years.
“There’s obviously a lot of politics going on,” Agriculture Union National President Bob Kingston told CTV’s Canada AM on Wednesday.
When Prime Minister Stephen Harper was asked on Tuesday about what’s led to the beef recall, he told the House of Commons that Ottawa has added “700 net new inspectors.”
Kingston, whose union membership includes inspectors at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said the 700 new positions Harper claims have been added since 2006 are not solely food inspector jobs.
“They’re talking about everyone that was hired within the technical category at CFIA, whether they’re doing seed analysis or certifying lumber for export,” said Kingston. “Even then, we haven’t been able to confirm where those 700 people are.”
Kingston hopes a thorough investigation into the operations at Alberta’s XL Foods will be able to pinpoint the problem.
The XL meat-processing plant is believed to be the source of the E. coli contamination that’s prompted the recall of 1,500 meat products so far.
