Monday November 9, 2009, 4:33 am
Inspectors found a troubling lack of hygiene at the company's Toronto facility just weeks after it reopened last year from a temporary shutdown for cleaning, according to inspection reports.

Maple Leaf says inspectors were looking more carefully at the plant after the listeriosis crisis, so naturally they found more problems.

And the company's chief food-safety officer, Dr. Randy Huffman, said Maple Leaf put in place more than 200 new standard operating procedures after the listeriosis outbreak but it took workers time to learn them. He said that through that learning process the company has continuously improved its approach to food safety.

Huffman said there was never any reason to be worried about the safety of the food produced at the plant.

The head of the federal food inspectors union said, however, that some of what the inspectors reported seeing at the time were "things that people should be concerned about."

Maple Leaf closed its Bartor Road deli-meat plant for nearly a month last year after its products tested positive for a bacteria called Listeria monocytogenes. Twenty-two people died and many more fell ill after eating tainted meat from the plant.

During the plant's closure, the company invited television crews to film workers in what looked like hazardous-material suits dismantling and sterilizing equipment, while the other areas were coated in a foamy disinfectant.

Hundreds of employees also spent hours in training sessions learning about cleanliness and the bacteria.

Company president Michael McCain held a news conference when the plant reopened on Sept. 18, 2008, and acknowledged the experts who worked tirelessly to sanitize the facility and its many meat slicers.

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Monday November 9, 2009, 2:12 pm
This may seem like a silly question BUT Why should the workers, or anyone else for that matter, be concerned about "a little green slime" when/if they know that the beef they are processing into "prepared meats" has been fed a diet of POULTRY FECES!!!! Just maybe they are on to something -- Green Slime has killed few, SHIT FED FOOD HAS KILLED MANY!!!!

Cheers and Bon Appetit

cowboss

Sunday November 15, 2009, 3:04 pm
Ok, let's think about this a moment.
The article states, "Maple Leaf says inspectors were looking more carefully at the plant after the listeriosis crisis, so naturally they found more problems."

Well, shouldn't the workers and management clean the plant extra carefully and completely effective after such a serious CRISIS,so that nothing amiss at all is found?

Why is crap logic like this ever acceptable from anyone.

Then, "And the company's chief food-safety officer, Dr. Randy Huffman, said Maple Leaf put in place more than 200 new standard operating procedures after the listeriosis outbreak but it took workers time to learn them. He said that through that learning process the company has continuously improved its approach to food safety."

We know it takes time for employees to learn new procedures and break bad habits. Why was the plant processing any meat for consumption unless the employees were ALREADY up to speed and had demonstrated on the job competence for all new procedures??

YIKES. If I hadn't read the info on location, I'd think this was a plant that the Bush Admin left operational because the owner donates big to the GOP maybe. Sheesh.