Poultry inspection changes could pose health risk, say veterinarians
Veterinarians who monitor food safety at federally regulated poultry slaughterhouses are taking the government to court, claiming a pilot program that shifts inspection duties to slaughterhouse workers breaks federal rules and could pose a health risk to Canadians.Under the proposed changes, called the "poultry rejection program," slaughterhouse employees would be responsible for monitoring birds as they pass through the production lines, a task usually carried out by veterinarians working for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The changes would also mean slaughterhouses wouldn't have to make public the reasons why carcasses were rejected, say the veterinarians.
...
In a written response to the union last October, the CFIA's executive vice-president, Dr. Brian Evans, said the pilot project frees the veterinarians from the time-consuming and mundane task of inspecting sick carcasses so they have more time to look for pathogens in the birds.
I do believe that during the listeriosis outbreak we heard about changes to the inspection regime that were intended to free up inspectors from "time-consuming and mundane tasks." And that worked out well, didn't it?
Of course we're not entirely sure how well it worked because we're still waiting for the results of that judicial inquiry we were promised. Meanwhile the Conservatives continue the trends of having industry police itself and of implementing their agenda under the radar as much as possible. And speaking of under the radar, let's replay one interesting sentence from that article:
The changes would also mean slaughterhouses wouldn't have to make public the reasons why carcasses were rejected...
Facts are stupid things and our government doesn't want us to have them. Even when they concern the food we eat.
Gee, pogge: what have you got against productivity'n'efficiency?
Interesting little catch-phrase there that we should remember: "time-consuming and mundane task," which, if you're a Conservative, is a Bad Thing, apparently. Funny, y'know? I've spent my entire working life doing time-consuming and mundane tasks, and every productive person I know has done the same. If we hadn't, a whole lot of worlds would have fallen apart by now.
Yes, real work is time-consuming and mundane much of the time, but we can't all be Rona Ambrose, can we.
Whooee! I guess they really are puttin' the foxes in charge of the henhouse. When there's stuff like bird flu and mad cow and listeriosis and salmonella goin' around, how in the hell can gummint think about cuttin' back on inspections. They oughta take a tenth of the money they're throwin' down the drain in Afstan and put it into food safety. Listeriosis killed more Canajuns than the terrists done.
JB
pogge, would it come as a surprise that it's been said that Harper's choice of Sheila Weatherill to lead that judicial inquiry is self-serving?
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/01/21/weatherill-conflict.html
As far as the "mundane" goes, how can it be mundane to watch chickens pass through production lines? That's poultry in motion.
deBeauxOs: No, it doesn't surprise me. I'd be surprised if it were any other way.
JB: *groan*
Yes, and with this, the economy, the treatment of Omar Khadr, and everything else going on, my MP, Pierre Poilivre, wants to know my birthday so he give me something special.
Jesus these people are idiots.
How many of the Conservative MPs ever worked at time-consuming, mundane jobs or did any kind of honest work? Not Harper the policy wonk.