Ottawa

XL Foods, Gerry Ritz and Ruth Ellen Brosseau

The Star, Globe and Calgary Herald list the problems at XL Foods.

Federal food inspectors have released a long list of deficiencies — clogging of water nozzles used to wash feces from carcasses, condensation above exposed product, and unsanitary handling of meat — found during an audit of an Alberta plant at the centre of the country’s largest-ever beef recall, but missed during routine inspections.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday that XL Foods Inc. also had no appropriate plan to handle a late August spike in positive tests for a potentially fatal bacteria, but agency officials struggled again to explain why their own inspectors didn’t spot the festering problem weeks before and act then to stop contaminated product from reaching grocery shelves.

Meanwhile, demonstrating that accidental MPs grow up so fast these days, here is an email that went out to New Democrats yesterday afternoon.

My fellow New Democrat,

When the Conservative Minister of Agriculture, Gerry Ritz, finally bothered to show up in the House of Commons this week, it was clear he had no answers for his mishandling of the largest beef recall in Canadian history.

It’s clear Mr. Ritz hasn’t been doing his job. It’s clear he’s put your safety at risk. And he’s refusing to accept responsibility and give Canadians the answers they deserve.

Join us in calling for his resignation right now. Sign our petition today.

http://www.ndp.ca/ritz-must-resign

Did you know that tainted beef was recalled in the U.S. almost two weeks before it was recalled in Canada? Canadian consumers were buying and eating contaminated meat while Americans were protected.

While in the midst of the largest beef recall in Canadian history, Mr. Ritz has the nerve to claim that Canada’s food inspection system is not only working, but is world class.

He still won’t accept responsibility for the food inspection system he put in place.

On Tuesday, he was even making jokes about the tainted beef crisis in a Saskatchewan newspaper.

If the Minister refuses to take this crisis seriously, how can we trust him to fix it?

Canadians deserve better.

Add your voice to our call for Gerry Ritz’s resignation. Sign the petition today. Together we can make sure he’s shown the door.

Mr. Ritz has got to go. Canadians need a Minister of Agriculture that will put their safety first.

Let’s make it happen.

Ruth Ellen Brosseau, MP
Deputy Critic for Agriculture
Canada’s New Democrats

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