CFIA suspends operations at Grey County egg grader

Thursday, May 1, 2014

by JIM ALGIE

One of only three federally-inspected egg-grading stations serving small flocks in northern Grey County suspended operations, effective April 11, pending a Canadian Food Inspection Agency review.

Veteran grading station operator Al Tobey of RR 6 Owen Sound said in an interview today he hopes to make improvements to meet CFIA standards within a week. The suspension followed inquiries by Egg Farmers of Ontario officials after they received reports of “bad eggs” attributed to one of his former egg grading customers, Tobey said.

“Actually, we hadn’t candled them for that individual for about three or four weeks but we got blamed for it,” Tobey said, referring to the process of “candling” by which eggs pass over illuminated equipment during inspection. A subsequent CFIA visit by a Walkerton-based inspector resulted in the suspension.

“They came up here and of course, everything was wrong,” Tobey said of the inspection itself. “They shut us down until we made some changes to the egg house and getting back to where the rules and regulations say they should be,” he said.

There was no food recall associated with Tobey’s license suspension, a CFIA statement said. CFIA inspectors cited regulations for the general condition of egg grading stations and inspectors’ concerns about “proper sanitation and operating requirements.”

Tobey has until May 12 “to meet the standards for a federally registered egg station,” the statement said. Failure to comply could result in loss of registration, CFIA said. The egg grading station is a sideline to Tobey’s long-standing, cash crop farming business and serves mainly organic growers and other small flock operators.

“We debated whether we should shut the egg house down or keep it going but we thought we’d give it a try and see if we can get it back to where they want it,” Tobey said. “Another week and we should be ready to go,” he said.

Some egg graders in the Owen Sound area have ceased operations in recent years because of stiffer regulations, Tobey said. A list of 66 grading stations in Ontario appears on the website of Manitoulin-based, Small Flock Poultry Farms of Canada and shows six in Grey and Bruce counties but only three in the immediate, Owen Sound area. BF