Alberta's Wildrose Opposition Leader Danielle Smith says it was a mistake for her to tweet that properly cooked tainted meat could feed the homeless.

Ms. Smith told an open line radio show that if you can't explain your position in 140 words on Twitter, you shouldn't try.

On the weekend, Ms. Smith went on Twitter to suggest meat that had to be recalled by XL Foods in Brooks, Alta., could be cooked thoroughly to destroy E.coli bacteria and then fed to the homeless.

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NDP Leader Brian Mason suggested Smith has so little regard for Albertans in poverty she's OK with feeding them tainted meat.

Ms. Smith says the angry reaction to her tweet shows that people have so little faith in what officials are doing over the beef crisis, that anything short of destroying the meat is unacceptable.

The company has decided to dump the meat in a landfill, and Ms. Smith now says that's probably the best way to go.