New managers at XL Foods plant promise big changes

The head of JBS saysthings will be different whenthe XL Foods meat processing plant in Brooks, Alta., reopens on Monday.It's been at the centre of a massive beef recall connected to E. coli contamination.

The company expects consumer-ready beef to be leaving the plant by the end of the day.

JBS management held a news conference in Brooks Thursday andCEO Bill Rupp laid out10 things he believes in as a leader.

He said the No. 1 issue right nowis food safety, and JBS feels theresponsibility lies with the company and not the government.

Rupp is also promising that the line speed at the plant will initially be slower.

"We're going to do a lot of on-the-job training of exactly how we believe those jobs need to be performed," said Rupp.

Theunion representing workers had complained the line speedwas part of the problem behind food safety issues.

'Don't have to be a jerk' to highlight problems

JBS says current managers at the Brooks plant will be back Monday when it reopens, butJBS staff will be on-site to oversee thebeef processing.

"Nobody oughta have to work for a jerk," said Rupp. "And I sit here as a reformed jerk, and I know I have jerk tendencies. It really sends a message through the organization. I mean if somebody's doing something wrongor notperforming to where itneeds to be you don't have to be a jerk to have that conversation."

The companysays it believes its safety measures will help restore Canadian confidence in the meat processing industry.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agencyplans to keep up enhanced oversightand increased testing protocols at the plant when it reopens.

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has repeatedly expressed confidence in the CFIA since the problems arose.But today he saidCFIA inspectors should have been tougher whenit came todealing with XL Foods.

"I think CFIA would have been a lot harder-nosed on getting the material from XL rather than being nice, and going the format with the letter and so on. You stand banging at the door until you got it. But[we were]notseeing any illness spikes to drive us to the point ofdecertifying," Ritz said about the reason why the plant wasn't shut down until Sept. 27, almost two weeks after the first recall alert.

Ritz said now that it's known that 16 people fell ill from eating meat from the XL plant,the government wants to re-double its effortsso federal health and food safety agencieshave the capacity to analyze these types of incidents quickerand get taintedproducts offgrocery shelves faster.

He made the comments in House of Commonsagriculture committee hearings into the newSafe Food for Canadians ActThursday morning.

No firm date for possible sale of plant

The Brooks plant employs about 2,200 people. JBS says there is no firm date for buying XL Foods,as the company's first priority is to getthe Brooks plantup and running first.

JBS USA, whose Brazilian parent company claims it is the world's largest animal protein processor, will run the XL plant for 60 days and has anexclusive option to buythe Canadian and U.S. operations of XL Foods.

XL will continue to manage its other Canadian and U.S. operations during the option period.

The company also announced it will be giving $20,000 to theBrooks food bank, which saw a spike in trafficafter roughly2,000 XL workers were temporarily laid offon Oct. 13.