Federal beef inspectors were told to ignore contamination on carcasses being processed for sale to Canadians at the XL Foods plant.

A memo from a Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) meat hygiene supervisor obtained by CTV News instructed CFIA inspectors to closely examine carcasses being processed for shipment to Japan, but to ignore visible contamination on meat for Canadians.

“Our number 1 priority is to ensure this standard is met with Japan eligible carcasses,” said the memo.

“Ensure that non-Japan-eligible carcasses are not inspected for spinal cord/dura mater, OCD (other carcass defects) and minor ingesta,” the note said. “Ignore them.”

The president of the union representing workers at the Brooks, Alta., plant told the Star he was disturbed when he read the memo.

“I was shocked that the CFIA would give that kind of direction. No product should go out of the plant that’s unsafe,” said Doug O’Halloran, president of United Food & Commercial Workers, Local 401.

“I just don’t understand the logic that it’s OK for products that are not good enough for Japan to be processed and sold in Canada.”

He said that sort of contamination includes fecal matter and intestinal content, but the most dangerous was the spinal cord matter, which can affect the human brain.

According to the memo, those contaminants can be detected later on in the processing operation. The CFIA’s executive director of western operations, Harpreet Kochhar, has said the carcasses go through a decontamination shower that removes remnants of organs and feces.

O’Halloran said this process does not remove all visible contamination and it can force feces deeper into the meat.

“If we can catch it down the line, then why was that plant closed for three weeks?” he said. “I’m thankful we haven’t had more incidents in the past.”

The memo was first sent Sept. 12, 2008, and reissued in 2010 and 2011, according to CTV.

The XL Foods plant was at the centre of an E. coli outbreak in September that led to the largest meat recall in Canadian history.

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