CANADA: Maple Leaf responds to Bartor Road corrective actions

09.nov.09
Maple Leaf
Dr. Randy Huffman

Canadian Press (CP) issued a story yesterday about corrective action
reports issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) 14 months
ago, after an inspection at our Bartor Road plant. 
The average reader must be wondering how this plant could have so many
issues only a month after re-opening from causing one of the worst food
safety crises in Canada.
In the wake of the listeriosis crisis this plant was one of the most
scrutinized plants in North America. Before it re-opened it required the
approval of both Health Canada and the CFIA, which it received in
September. After re-opening it was inspected daily by a team of
inspectors from CFIA as well as from Maple Leaf. As part of these
ongoing and rigorous inspections, issues were identified, acknowledged
and documented. It is the documentation from a few of these inspections
in October and December that became the subject matter of today's CP
story.
The CFIA and Maple Leaf determined at the time that there was no food
safety concern. What this very detailed inspection process provided was
an early indicator of potential issues in the plant that need to be
corrected. And we corrected them. Immediately.
Over the past 12 -14 months- since these inspections were conducted - we
have invested over $5 million in upgrades at the Bartor Road plant. This
includes repair of floors and wall surfaces, air handling systems,
caulking, better separation of raw and cooked areas of the plant, new
pallets and new slicing and packaging equipment. We have implemented
over 200 new operating procedures.
Most importantly, we have instituted an intensive program to train our
staff and instill in them the belief that food safety must be the number
one priority. We continually train every one of our plant employees on
our new procedures, which are based on the best food safety practices in
North America.
Government inspections and the corrective action plans that result are
an essential part of our food safety system. CFIA generates these
reports and so does Maple Leaf, through our own inspections across all
our plants. We welcome this government scrutiny. Canadians hold us to a
higher standard, as they should. Our responsibility is to do our
absolute best and to respond immediately where inspections reveal areas
where we can improve.