One of the points in my recommendation is around the facilitation and efficiency of food sampling processes. It was frustrating to some of us in Ontario that when our trained staff, who know how to do sampling with a sterile and careful technique...instead of 36 health units sending in 10 to 20 one-kilogram bags to a centre to get assessed, they could take some samples and send them in. To say that because your staff opened them or your lab staff opened them up, that's not as good as our lab staff opening them is a little bit frustrating in that sense, because they use the same care and technique to undertake that. Shipping large packages of products over long distances in a timely manner can become overwhelming, and one has to look at what is a more efficient and effective way of sampling.
Also, confidence and trust that if you train people out on the periphery to do the proper sampling and give them clear instructions, even on how you might want to augment or change that in the process...I've experienced that before, where an experienced medical microbiologist doing that will say, “Now we want to sample this portion and do it this way”, and you needed an iterative process to make it more timely to go through pounds and pounds, up to a quarter of a tonne, of stuff. Testing is a huge task.
So I think the open packages were of concern to the agency, but I thought, in my sense, that some of our staff who are well trained in that can sample products quite well and keep them in the proper process that would still be valuable and meaningful in that investigation. So we wanted to make sure we clarify that.