The Maple Leaf plant at the centre of last summer’s deadly listeria tragedy wasn’t subject to a detailed safety audit by federal inspectors for at least a year prior to the outbreak, says a briefing note from the union representing inspectors.
Inadequate resources, staff shortages and overtime bans on federal inspectors have prevented the mandatory annual safety audits from being completed, says the union, which has sent its briefing note to members of a federal subcommittee investigating the outbreak.
The inspectors, who prepared the note based on personal observations as part of their jobs, are presenting it this week at federal hearings.
Tim O’Connor, a spokesperson for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said while a full system audit was not done at the plant leading up to the outbreak, a different auditing system had been put in place that incorporates the same level of oversight.
