CFIA admits it didn't 'connect the dots to get the big picture' on beef recall

By Marty Klinkenberg, Edmonton JournalOctober 2, 2012

EDMONTON - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency conceded on Monday it’s a mistake not to require companies to analyze test results from beef trimmings to to allow inspectors to “connect the dots to get the big picture” about a packing plant’s operations.  Richard Arsenault, the agency’s director of meat inspection, confirmed changes are coming that will require companies to do more than simply test for E. coli. “The requirements for analysis of the data — in other words, what they had to do to look at it at the end of the day, weren’t as rigorous,” Arsenault said. “Well, I wouldn’t use that word. They were fairly rigorous because they had to do all that testing, but in terms of connecting the dots to look for these pictures, they didn’t have a requirement to do that. “We didn’t think that was something that would have been useful. We now know that it is, so that’s why we’re going to change it.” More than 1,100 products from XL Foods have been recalled in the biggest beef recall in Canadian history, and CFIA indicated the recall will likely be expanded. The first products were recalled on Sept. 16, and the list has since been expanded several times. The recall has affected major retailers in Canada and 41 U.S. states, and led the CFIA to suspend the firm’s operating licence and revoking its privilege to export products to the U.S. U.S. inspectors at the border in Montana first detected E. coli in beef trimmings used to make hamburger during random tests on Sept. 3. The CFIA found traces of E. coli the next day, but it wasn’t until 13 days later that a recall was issued — by the company, voluntarily. The CFIA launched an investigation to determine the source of the contamination. As part of that probe, CFIA decided to recall products produced on five separate days between Aug. 24 and Sept. 5, after noting deviations from the company’s documented E. coli control measures and analyzing test data. (more)
List of recalled products - click here
The CFIA website - click here 
Fact Sheet: E. coli O157:H7 Food Safety Facts