XL Foods Beef Plant Recalls 800 Workers

Oct 15, 2012

Brooks Plant Recalls Workers to Help Canadian Food Inspection Agency Review

XL Foods Inc. announced that they have issued recall notices to 800 employees to assist with the review process being conducted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). This announcement comes after the plant had decided to temporarily lay off 2,000 workers at the plant. Following that announcement, the CFIA responded saying that the layoffs would impede CFIA’s inspector’s ability to continue a full examination of the meat processing plant.

“At this time, we are unable to complete our assessment,” the statement said.

The XL plant fired back at CFIA saying that the company had to lay off employees because the agency couldn’t indicate when they would be getting their licence reinstated. The company received permission from the agency last Thursday to process the remaining 5,100 carcasses in the plant that tested negative for E. coli. The meat is under the detention of CFIA authorities and cannot leave the plant until proper measures have been affectively managed. The agency announced yesterday, that some of the meat that was under detention will be destroyed and that none of the meat would enter the food system.

The United Food Commercial Workers 401 is calling for a public inquiry into the largest E. coli food outbreak in Canadian history.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.