OK, so we have probably all heard about the e-coli issues coming out of XL Foods in Alberta. Myself, I was fairly confident about my meat in the freezer...until this morning. We buy ALL our meet from 2 sources, Maxi or Bonichoix as we find the meat from these 2 stores looks better quality than anywhere else...redder, fresher, etc. Up to now, these 2 supermarkets were not listed by the CFIA as having received possibly tainted meat. That all changed with this mornings CFIA update...bummer! As of now, every grocery chain in Quebec has been on the lists, so I assume the same is true country wide. How many of us repackage meats for freezing, canning or other storage and discard the labels which enable us to check the product against the lists? For us, we were able to determine that we had not purchased beef within the time frame, as it was not on sale and we only buy meat on special...so no harm, no foul right? Wrong. Yesterday, my mother in law gave us 2 packs of steak that we thawed and were about to grind into burger meat as we are a little low on ground beef. These steaks were just a couple hours from making their way into our food storage with no way to verify the labels against the warnings. As the labels are long gone, I will be throwing it out and not taking the chance. One more reason to check out that new butcher down the road who raises and sells everything right out of his back yard!
Here is the link to CFIA website where you can subscribe to the email alerts...
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/eng/1297964599443/1297965645317
This is always a concern. Organic beef comes from my brother, meat from hunting is cut and wrapped at home, chickens and eggs from our back yards, and vegetables from the garden. There is always a risk, but having that said, the media blows it out of proportion. An extremely minute percentage of food and or the population was ever actually effected. It was caught early and most of it was recalled or disposed of. There is proof that contamination exists, but it also proves that the safety and inspection systems operate with some efficiency.
All in all, the more you can do yourself, the better off you are. I have reasonable confidence and trust in the system, but the less I need to rely on it due to my own efforts, I become more efficient and self sustaining.
