Capital Packers? president wants to move forward after ?gruesome? two-week shutdown

EDMONTON - The president of Capital Packers expects his meat-packing plant to be fully operational again Monday after a ?gruesome? two weeks dealing with a now-lifted license suspension by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Brent Komarnicki, president of the 83-year-old Edmonton-based company, said he?s looking forward to life returning to normal for him and his 100 employees after Capital Packers was given the go-ahead by CFIA to resume production effective Dec. 5.

?It?s probably the worst thing in my life, in my 30 years there,? Komarnicki said on Saturday. The Nov. 23 order from CFIA forced the company to stop production because the meat-packing plant had an inadequate and ineffective program to track products and recall them, if need be. That order came one day after ? but was unrelated to ? the company?s decision to voluntarily recall some ham sausage products from the marketplace after regular testing found listeria on an employee?s sleeve. In the end, all products still in the plant at 12907 57th St. and all sausages shipped to retail outlets tested negative for listeria.

?It?s very stressful. You?re shut down. You?re not able to sell anything,? Komarnicki said. ?It?s a bad time and it?s Christmas. There are bills to be paid and we?re losing a lot of Christmas business and, of course, this affects customers? Hopefully they?ll all be back in time. There will be a few hiccups moving forward.?

The CFIA lifted the suspension Wednesday when it accepted short- and long-term business plans by Capital Packers to adequately trace products. A CFIA-employed inspector on-site at the meat-packing plant will now boost testing and inspections to ensure those plans are followed, Komarnicki said.

?It?s like when you move to a new house: you have to move in and get things placed properly. It?s a slow start,? he said. Employees were back Thursday for training in how to accurately and fully fill out new paperwork, and the on-site inspector did a full pre-operational check. Some meat products were shipped Friday, but Monday is expected to be the first day of full operations to try to address the backlog in orders.

?The last part of November, early December, are your most crucial times, and so we?re kind of behind the 8-ball,? Komarnicki said. ?There certainly has been business lost, no doubt about it, that we?ll never be able to replenish or get back. All we do right now is we just look forward.?

He credited the strength and longevity of his company to loyal customers.

?They?ve held onto us. (For) that we can be very blessed,? he said. ?As a company, we don?t want to see our brand ruined. It is our brand and we?ve always taken food safety seriously because it is our product.?

Komarnicki said recalls and plant shutdowns are more frequent now than ever because testing of products, equipment and work surfaces ? even employee sleeves ? by in-house inspectors and those from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has quadrupled in the last five to 10 years.

?That?s a good thing,? Komarnicki said. ?Certainly it?s painful to be ever suspended. We don?t ever want to go through this again. I just want to move forward and get operating and hopefully everything will fly from here on in.?

jsinnema@edmontonjournal.com

twitter.com/jodiesinnema

Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F264/~3/AnXFd4iatfc/story.html

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