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Canada failing to act on food safety 03 Feb 2010
Inaction on food safety has earned the Canadian Government a failing grade six months after the investigation into the 2008 Maple Leaf listeriosis outbreak.
The mid-term report card on the government’s dismal performance was released in Ottawa by the food inspectors union and Canada’s largest consumer organization, Option Consommateurs.
“Six months after Sheila Weatherill’s report, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency efforts to improve have been hamstrung by the absence of political will and commitment to improve on the part of the federal government,” said Bob Kingston, President of the Agriculture Union – PSAC, which represents food inspectors who work for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
“Consumer confidence in food safety has been shaken to the core. The absence of any visible action six months after the Weatherill report will do nothing to repair this,” said Option spokesperson Anu Bose.
Almost half of Weatherill’s recommendations to prevent another outbreak were directed toward the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. With its mandate to inspect sanitation practices and enforce food safety requirements, the under-resourced CFIA was widely seen as failing to protect Canadian consumers.
The Weatherill report called on the federal government to conduct an audit to determine the number of inspectors required to ensure food companies are complying with food safety rules, recommended the new inspection system – the Compliance Verification System or CVS – be revamped.
“Six months later, the federal government and the CFIA have yet to begin work on either of these key recommendations," added Kingston. “An audit has not even begun and the CVS remains unevaluated. The inspector shortage is as acute as ever and we continue to be hobbled by an inspection system that is deeply flawed.”
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