RE: Bashaw Meats & Sausage Closure.
I am writing in response to a quote from environmental public health supervisor Kevin McLeod stating “When I think of the risk of contracting some serious food-borne pathogens that could stop young children’s kidneys, then we just can’t ignore these sorts of things”. First of all, most people are seeing this statement for what it is, a desperate scare tactic to try and justify the actions that were taken. But for the people that don’t see this, the damage to reputation of this business is irreparable. How can a statement like this be made with no testing being done and no complaints being filed?
In this case, every establishment in Alberta should be closed by the AHS because there is a risk of food-borne pathogen in everthying we eat, no matter where it is prepared, or who prepares it. Look at the example of Maple Leaf meats and listeria, baby food being recalled because of glass being found and e-coli being found in lettuce just to list a few. Unless they are prepared to have someone stationed at everyone’s house to test every mouthful of food, every sip of every drink, that risk will always be there! Perhaps all businesses connected to Alberta Agriculture should be worried about this as well.
There is a risk in everything we do every day. I could slip in the shower, get struck by lightning when I go outside, get skin cancer from being out in the sun, hit by a drunk driver on the road, etc. If we worry about every risk that we face at every moment of every day, you would never leave your house and you would live in a bubble. How on earth did the human race ever survive without some sort of official or expert telling us what we have to do in order for us to carry on.
I would like to close by saying that Kevin McLeod’s statement is akin to me saying that there is a chance that I could win the lottery this week so I should just go on a spending spree right now.
Yours sincerely,
Robert Berry
Bashaw