Stirring the pot -- Sept. 3, 2008
Stew Slater There were, undoubtedly, numerous cringes of sympathy at the James Street South Shur-Gain plant last week, as former boss Michael McCain attempted to shoulder the full brunt of the blame for an outbreak of Listeriosis food poisoning.
McCain made regular appearances in St. Marys up until Maple Leaf Foods -– which sold its feed-manufacturing subsidiary Shur-Gain to a Netherlands-based corporation in 2007 –- relocated its “Signature Pork” producer recognition awards from the St. Marys Community Centre to the larger Bingeman Park complex in Kitchener.
CEO of Canada’s dominant food processing company, McCain rarely missed out on what was generally a respectful, smoothly-run, but low-key annual event. Almost all attendees were pork producers, along with a few Shur-Gain employees and even fewer farm journalists.
The company’s media relations department would invariably send out invitations to these journalists, highlighting the scheduled presentation by this or that guest speaker on a topic like international meat consumption trends or changes in traceability regulations. But in the days and weeks that followed, the coverage that appeared in publications like Ontario Farmer and the Journal Argus’s sister paper Regional Country News revealed that the journalists believed the most important aspect of the night was –- once again -– McCain’s own interpretation of the present and future for the Canadian pork production sector.
“Do you know your cost per hog to produce compared to ... the best systems in America?” he asked at the 2005 awards dinner. “If you don’t have those numbers, get them. Line item by line item, compare them to the best in America. That is the single best thing you can do.”
Attire at the event was almost completely casual –- most attendees, after all, weren’t much more than a shower, a comb, and clean shirtsleeves removed from the hog barn. But McCain’s business-first attitude –- as if the tone of his speech wasn’t enough -– was emphasized by the contrast between his clothing and that of his brother, Maple Leaf Foods vice president Scott. Michael is above average in height, yet his brother –- who never made speeches -– stands an inch or so taller. When the meal, speeches, award presentations and photo opportunities were complete, Scott -– always wearing shirtsleeves, like the farmers –- could be seen strolling into the crowd, shaking hands, and joking about hockey or the weather or whatever came to mind. Meanwhile, the smartly-dressed Michael would direct the journalists to a quiet corner, make a short statement, and then invite questions.
It was, therefore, almost shocking to see Michael McCain addressing much larger gatherings of journalists over the past couple of weeks, almost always without a jacket or tie. Far from the assumption some newcomers might have made that he always dresses this way to meet the media, this was very clearly a departure – part of the impressive communications plan unrolled so quickly by Maple Leaf Foods in the wake of the Listeria outbreak.
Appearances aside (although appearances obviously played an integral role), McCain’s admission of culpability formed the cornerstone of the strategy.
“It’s our best efforts that failed, not the regulators or the Canadian food safety system,” he said. “I emphasize: This is our accountability and it’s ours to fix.”
Anyone affected by the outbreak -– whether or not they harbour ill feelings or plan to sue Maple Leaf Foods –- was sure to check out McCain’s easily-accessible online video apology. The somber two-minute clip stands, without question, as a history-making moment in the tale of Canadian corporate affairs.
McCain was always forthcoming with the small-time journalists in St. Marys –- willing to hear out an awkwardly delivered question; willing to repeat a response to someone who arrived late to the “scrum.” He politely countered inquiries that challenged the wisdom of Maple Leaf Foods strategies, and always made sure to credit pork producers for their hard work.
He is, without question, a skilled and talented “public face” for a huge food processing and marketing corporation.
That doesn’t change the fact, however, that the whole notion of Maple Leaf Foods taking the entire blame for the listeria outbreak is misleading.
McCain believes, with justification, that Maple Leaf Foods can weather the storm. On a one-time basis, the company should be able to pay out a few million-dollar settlements to grieving families.
But weathering the storm will be easier if the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) doesn’t look at the new outbreak and realize that better prevention lies in overhauling the status quo in large meat processing facilities. Lawsuit settlements will look relatively cheap if, over the long term, the company is asked to shut down meat-cutting lines as soon as there’s a hint of the presence of the long-incubating bacteria –- which has not happened in the past, a practice that has reportedly left numerous less-serious listeria outbreaks to run their natural courses outside the public radar. Now, a full clean-up is only demanded if a link is made between separate listeria cases; the CFIA could demand a lot more.
Much has been said by packing industry critics about the wisdom of turning to small processors as an alternative to mass-produced meats. Most of these comments carefully avoid suggesting there’s increased risk of any one product becoming contaminated, whether it originates from a small or large packing plant. The difference, it has been repeatedly suggested, is that contaminated meat from a large plant is more likely to have wide-ranging effects because it gets distributed on a large scale.
This ignores the fact that, unlike Maple Leaf Foods, small meat-cutting operations (and small meat-producing farms) can’t afford even one lawsuit. They can’t change the attire of their owner/operator, put them in front of a   www.youtube.com camera, and have them deliver a well-practiced speech to hopefully convince a judge to minimize the magnitude of the settlement. Any settlement of any magnitude will push these small-scale businesspeople into bankruptcy.
Listeria (and other dangerous food-borne contaminants) can’t be eliminated from the environment. The coming weeks will reveal what the CFIA believes are the most practical and effective ways to minimize the risk of public exposure to these contaminants.