The Canadian federal government is getting out of the business of inspecting provincial meat plants – a move critics say could put consumers at risk over an annual savings of a few million dollars.
The end of the federal inspections will affect about 100 provincial facilities in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has had an arrangement for decades with those provinces to inspect provincial slaughterhouses and processing plants on their behalf.
Inspectors look for E. coli, listeria, salmonella and other potentially deadly contaminants.
"Well, I'm not happy, I'm disappointed with this announcement," Stan Struthers, Manitoba's minister of agriculture, food and rural initiatives, said in an interview Wednesday.
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