Thunder Bay Company and its Owner Fined a Total of $2,500 for Moving Detained Product

Ontario,Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Convicted:

1. North Country Premium Sausage Co. Ltd.
2. Kevin Doyle, owner of North Country Premium Sausage Co. Ltd.

Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario

Description of Offence:

North Country Premium Sausage Co. Ltd. and Mr. Kevin Doyle, the owner of North Country Premium Sausage Co. Ltd., were found guilty of moving or interfering with a product that had been detained without the authorization of an inspector, contrary to the regulations of the Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001.

Date of Offence:  November 22, 2017

Date of Conviction: June 27, 2018

Penalty Imposed:

Her Worship Justice of the Peace Denette Maslach, at the City of Thunder Bay Provincial Offences Court, found North Country Premium Sausage Co. Ltd. and Mr. Doyle guilty of the offence. North Country Premium Sausage Co. Ltd. was fined $1,500, plus a $375 Victim Fine Surcharge. Mr. Doyle was fined $1,000, plus a $125 Victim Fine Surcharge. The Victim Fine Surcharge, as required by the Provincial Offences Act, is credited to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime.

Background

• On November 20, 2017, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) inspectors went to North Country Premium Sausage Co. Ltd., a provincially licensed meat plant, and discovered wild game carcasses and wild game parts within the raw cooler next to and touching domestic beef and pork.
• The storage of wild game next to approved food animal and meat carcasses is not permitted under the Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001. The inspectors ordered the removal of all wild game from the cooler, placed detention stickers on the meat carcasses and served a Notice of Detention to Mr. Doyle personally. The purpose of the Notice of Detention was to identify the affected meat and allow the inspectors to examine the domestic beef and pork for signs of contamination from the wild game.
• At this time, Mr. Doyle told the OMAFRA inspectors he understood the Notice of Detention and signed the detention document.
• On November 22, 2017, OMAFRA inspectors returned to the plant and inspected the coolers where the beef and pork had been detained. The inspectors discovered that the detained meat had been moved and interfered with.
• Mr. Doyle later admitted he understood he was not to move or remove the detained meat. He admitted he personally moved the meat within the cooler, and personally removed some of the detained meat from the cooler.
• Ontario is a leader in food safety and meat inspection. The province's Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001, and its regulations are part of Ontario's food safety system and contain high standards for the protection of consumers and the welfare of food animals.
• Under section 4 of Ontario Regulation 222/05 of the Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001, no person shall move or interfere with a thing that has been detained unless authorized or required to do so by an inspector.

Penalties for an individual convicted of a provincial offence under the Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001, are set out by subsection 46(1) of the Act. An individual convicted of an offence under the Act is liable to a fine of not more than $25,000 for a first conviction, a fine of not more than $50,000 for each subsequent conviction (for each day or part of a day on which the offence occurs or continues to occur), imprisonment for not more than two years or both a fine and imprisonment.