It looks like a lot of the beef on the market in Canada is a risk. The reason is the concentration of a few plants that serve the entire nation.
Canada's food system is centred in a handful of processing centres like XL. XL kill 4,000 head a day. It is beyond huge.
There are only 2 or three places like this in the nation.
It is even worse in the US.
It's not just beef but any animal. In the US more than 40% of the total eggs consumed come from one state. It's all connected to where the corn is grown. In Canada if you want to be competitive in Pork you need 100,000 sows in your operation. Last month the #2 and #4 Canadian pig operations declared bankruptcy.
So what about those in Atlantic Canada who raise animals? There is no place for Atlantic Canada in such a system. We are too small and too far away from where the grain that feeds all these animals is grown. Not only are PEI pork producers way below scale and exposed to sky high corn prices but they have to ship their pigs to Truro or Montreal to have them killed.
Producers are stuck. And so are consumers. We are exposed to systemic health risks. When you kill 4,000 head a day - you must have problems. When you supply the entire nation from this one plant, when you have a problem we all have a problem.
The issue is NOT INSPECTION. The issue is system design.
The feed lots that adjoin the kill house confine cows too tightly and feed them food that is not natural for them. They have to be medicated. It is the same with pigs and chickens. So this system is not only cruel but drives sickness and the very e coli we are afraid of.
But all we hear about is a possible failure of CIFA or a lack of will to regulate. A system based on concentration is the problem. All the health, environmental, welfare and human issues are driven by this design.
Time to start to think of another way. For if we don't we will have but one plant and no security.
What is the other way? I don't think it is a return to grandad's farm. It is I think to be found in the network.
My new book, You Don't Need a Job, is an introduction to the principles of how this is working. Next year one of the Titles is You Don't Need a Supermarket - here is will go deeply into the new food system. A food system that is safe, bountiful and where the producer can make money and NOT be huge.
