XL Foods recall cost beef industry $27 million

Jun 05, 2013

XL Foods recall cost beef industry $27 million

Report quantifies impact on Canadian beef industry

Last year’s XL Foods recall of 4,000 tonnes of beef cost the beef industry between $16 and $27 million in losses, according to an independent report released Wednesday. The losses were significant, especially since the XL plant represented 35% of the country’s beef processing market.

Farmers and ranchers took the hit, as the cost of feeding cattle increased for every day that cattle were held back from processing. At the time of the outbreak, cattle producers were forced to send their cattle to other processors in the province or to the U.S., which in many cases, paid less per head, knowing that ranchers had few options available.

The review found a relaxed attitude towards applying food safety standards in the plant. It was noted that the E. coli contamination likely occurred from equipment not being properly sterilized. The report outlined a total of 30 new recommendations, which Ottawa says it will accept.

Following the outbreak, Cargill Ltd. and JBS USA bought the former XL Foods plant.

Video: Case IH Grain Drill Assembly: Extra Hands Required

its time to put things back together on the International 5100 grain drill. I reassemble all the row units back together and then try to install it back on the drill by myself. But that proved to be more challenging than I figured. So I enlist some help from Logans. It was so much fun having my son's help with farm projects. Its truly takes family to help make farming successful.

I am the 2nd generation to live on this property after my parents purchased it in 1978. As a child my father hobby farmed pigs for a couple years and ran a vegetable garden. But we were not a farm by any stretch of the imagination. There were however many family dairy farms surrounding us. So naturally I was hooked with farming since I saw my first tractor. As time went on, I worked for a couple of these farms and that only fueled my love of agriculture. In 2019 I was able to move back home as my parents were ready to downsize and I was ready to try my hand at farming. Stacy and logan share the same love of farming as I do. Stacy growing up on her family's dairy farm and logans exposure of farming/tractors at a very young age. We all share this same passion to grow a quality/healthy product to share with our community. Join us on this journey and see where the farm life takes us.