A prison inmate sounded the alarm over questionable meat-inspection and labelling practices at a slaughterhouse run by convicts at the federal Pittsburgh Institution northeast of Kingston, a Corrections Canada spokesman said yesterday.
The provincially licensed abattoir shut down on Monday, and Ontario Provincial Police and provincial-government enforcement officers were brought in to investigate the allegations.
Guy Campeau of Corrections Canada said that over the weekend an inmate raised concerns with the prison warden, who contacted the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and the provincial police.
"The allegations came from an inmate," Mr. Campeau said, adding that they had to do with meat inspection and labelling.
The Joyceville, Ont., plant, part of a work program to integrate inmates into the community, is owned by Wallace Beef Inc., of Odessa, just west of Kingston. Company officials could not be reached for comment yesterday. According to provincial incorporation records, the president of the company is Bruce Wallace and the firm was incorporated in 1995.
Thomas Baker, director of the ministry's food-inspection branch, said he acted to suspend the plant licence provisionally after receiving a call from the warden "about a long list of allegations" to do with labelling and meat-inspection practices.
"It could be a number of things, whether the inspection was done properly, whether the animals received a full inspection, and so on. At this point, we have no indication that there is any substance to these allegations."
Dr. Baker said the plant has been licensed since 1996, and has never had any problems. He said it received an A rating in an audit a few weeks ago.
He added that the plant slaughters fewer than 50 cattle, lambs and pigs a week.
Mr. Campeau said the meat produced at the prison is used to feed the 194 male inmates at the minimum-security facility, inmates at other Ontario prisons and possibly some in Quebec. But some is sold at a public meat counter at the institution and some is distributed to other retail outlets.
Thirteen inmates work full- and part-time in the plant's apprenticeship program, one aspect of a prison rehabilitation system that trains inmates in a variety of jobs. Five Wallace employees also work at the plant.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has no immediate plans to issue a recall of the food products. A spokesman said the federal agency was alerted, but no request was made to recall products.
In a statement Tuesday night, the Ministry of Agriculture said that although there is no known threat to public health, all meat products are detained in the plant as a precaution.
OPP Sergeant Kristine Cholette said that a preliminary inquiry revealed "no obvious criminal wrongdoing" and that the provincial police are on standby to assist government investigators.
"The allegations fall under the mandate of the Ministry of Agriculture, so they're taking the lead in the investigation. At the present time, it does not fall under a police mandate. But if that does change, obviously we will re-evaluate it," Sgt. Cholette said.
The National Farmers Union repeated calls for the province to address problems that may erode consumer confidence in meat-processing plants.