How e.coli bacteria beat the system at Alberta’s XL Foods meat packing plant

From Josh Wingrove and Dawn Walton, in the Globe and Mail:

XL Foods plant in Brooks, Alberta. Photo via Calgary Sun. Click image to go there.

“At each stage, the E. coli sneaked through. It came in with the feces caked on the hide of at least one cow, a so-called “super-shedder” of bacteria, and persevered. The E. coli wasn’t caught on the kill floor, survived cleaning and clung on during dehiding, in which a cow’s skin is peeled away.

It reached the cutting table – a bacteria watershed, where the cow is cut into different types of beef, including “trim,” the odds and ends that become hamburger. The E. coli went undetected in the 325 grams of beef trim tested from this particular 2,000-pound batch, so it moved through. When alarms sounded, it was in stores.

Danielle Smith speaks up for the “conscience rights” of Alberta civil servants; raw milk anyone? UPDATED!

Danielle Smith, from a recently photo op in an ice cream store. Photo via Danielle's Facebook page.

The following quote is taken from a newspaper story by Warren Kinsella, in the Calgary Sun, that’s in general harshly critical of the views of Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith. Danielle’s party is a strong contender in the upcoming Alberta elections.

“How does she get away with that? How, in particular, does her caucus — who are, overwhelmingly, hard-Right social conservatives — let her get away with that? How can she, for example, say she’s “pro-choice” and also call abortions at four months “horrific?”

To do that, Smith has come up with an interesting little bit of “doublespeak” — she calls it conscience rights. It means, under a Wildrose government, if a doctor or nurse’s “conscience” opposes abortion, then they can refuse to perform them.

Health Canada not so worried about Fukushima fallout in Calgary rain, but raw milk, now there’s a health hazard

Finally, some mention in the mainstream media of potential health risk from Fukushima fallout, be it ever so dismissive:

From Michael Platt in the Calgary Sun:

“There’s no need to panic — probably.

But not knowing whether to shrug or cower over radioactive iodine falling on Calgary as a result of a meltdown in Japan last year has Canada’s top nuclear critic wondering why.

“There’s no need to be concerned, but what you should be concerned about is why the authorities are so quick to dismiss it,” says Dr. Gordon Edwards.