E.Coli crackdown hits beef industry

Times Contributor

 

While XL Foods has reopened, staff layoffs and licensing restrictions are delaying a return to full production.

These delays are causing problems for local producers and suppliers. 

“The runs were lighter and there is confusion. The problem, mostly, is we have no direction. The cattle numbers were building up,” said Don Danard, President of the Stockyards. “This time of year is terrible. People are in the process of wanting to market their calves. There is a concern in the market for both the buyers and the sellers.”

The Calgary and Strathmore Stockyards deal with all the slaughterhouses including XL Foods. XL Foods takes care of 1/3 of Canadian cattle kill.

The problem of E.Coli O157:H7 continues to be a danger to food and water supplies.

It may rise up in beef and other food products at any time. 

“We are in uncharted territory right now,” said Danard. “We are not sure of how we react or what we do. Let’s work our way through this thing, we have very little direction on this. Alberta beef is world-renowned and we want to keep it that way,” said Danard.

News sources indicate 50 per cent of Canadian and American beef carry the E.Coli O157:H7 strain in their gut. 

Veterinarian Jan Currah of Larrikin Veterinary Services Ltd. said no one has asked for the vaccine. She said it was difficult to get from her suppliers and wasn’t sure if it was due to runs on supplies elsewhere or a limitation in manufacturing of the vaccine. Delivery specifications recommend vaccinating three doses 39 days apart. This may be why producers don’t utilize the vaccine. Those with large herds find the logistics of three vaccinations unworkable.

If the vaccine company simplified the dose to a one shot fixes all, farmers might add it to other vaccination processes and integrate it into the National Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag program. The E.Coli O157:H7 vaccine kills the virus that incubates in cow intestines. It costs about six dollars per animal. Total vaccine programs works out to about $50 million, compared to $240 million it costs to treat illnesses caused by the virus annually. www.northumberlandview.ca

Political wrangling over the issue continues to focus on who is to blame, without direction on how to keep the food chain safe. Food inspections won’t make the virus go away.

Utilizing the vaccine and providing incentives would be a good investment for government to legislate. It would save lives, reduce serious illness and producers could protect the Alberta cattle industry from plant shutdowns and protect consumer confidence.

Legal ramifications from those who contracted the virus haven’t been raised. Although XL Food was targeted as the culprit, it could have originally occurred in the beef and it still is at large. Are cattle producers libel for not vaccinating their cows? Does it effect water supplies in their vicinity?

The virus can live in soil a year and water for up to five months. 

Chris Bolton, Chief Executive Officer for Benchmark Labs, found high numbers in irrigation canal water samples, taken from east of Calgary this spring, and gave many media warnings prior to the XL shutdown. Reaction by the government and producer\suppliers was minimal.

He said the virus isn’t dealt with and ramifications continue

“There doesn’t seem to be any containment between the open livestock pens, the dairy barns and the other facilities,” said Bolton. “Irrigation ditches aren’t expected to be sterile, but this particular strain of bacteria can be lethal and we need to be doing more,” added Bolton, in an online bulletin for The Canadian Food Safety Alliance.

Twelve people across Canada suffer from the E.Coli traced back to the XL Beef plant. However, there have been outbreaks in Canada and the United States since the 1990’s, not all involving beef. Canada’s largest was the Walkerton water contamination in 2000, with seven deaths and 5000 ill. Victims suffer severe abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea. Serious symptoms are seizures or strokes, the need for blood transfusions and kidney dialysis or permanent kidney damage and death.

Researchers demand to know why government still ignores the problem until people get sick. The regular use of the vaccine would significantly decrease the disease counts.