The mayor of Brooks says his community is in crisis mode and is scrambling to prepare for the human cost of the shut down at the XL Foods Lakeside plant.
The latest CFIA inspection is finished, but there is still no word on when the plant will reopen.
About 800 workers who had been called in to work Tuesday to finish processing beef carcasses as part of a Canadian Food Inspection Agency assessment of the plant were off the job again by Wednesday.
"The workers completed the job. They are now laid off again. We are waiting on the CFIA to decide when the plant can reopen," said Doug O'Halloran, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
Mayor Martin Shields says Brooks may possibly offer some short-term financial help to workers to make ends meet.
But he warns the community of 13,000 won't be able to carry the financial load if layoffs continue a month or two down the road.
Shields points out it will be become increasingly difficult for the 2,200 workers to pay for rent, mortgages and the necessities of life once they miss a pay cheque.
“When you're talking $100,000 to a quarter million dollars a day of economic loss of wages, and that is not the ripple effect, you're talking about a community in crisis before long,” said Shields.
The mayor is worried XL may simply pull the plug on the operation.
The CFIA said it expects to complete a report and make a recommendation to the federal government about the plant before the beginning of next week.
The agency said its review in the coming days will include how well the XL Foods is handling E. coli controls, meat hygiene, sampling techniques and overall sanitation.
The agency said it will also analyze the results of tests done on the meat by XL Foods and CFIA inspectors.
"Based on these observations and test results, the CFIA will prepare a report of its assessment and make a recommendation on next steps," the agency said in a release.
The CFIA does not spell out what those next steps could be or how soon the plant might be able to resume slaughtering cattle or sending beef products to market.
On Tuesday night, the food agency announced yet another recall of beef from the plant, this time involving brands sold under different product names in British Columbia and Alberta. The recall of more than 1,800 products now involves 33 retail chains across Canada.
Late Wednesday, the meat processing company announced that another company will take over management of some of XLs operations.
JBS-USA has agreed to take over management of the Brooks facility and potentially purchase that plant, another in Calgary and also XL's US operations.
(With files from ctvnews.ca)
