Canada criticised over food safety inaction
The food safety inspectors union and a large consumer organisation said the government had demonstrated a lack of commitment to act on the findings of an investigation by special investigator Sheila Weatherill on the lessons to be learnt in the aftermath of the 2008 Maple Leaf listeriosis outbreak that killed 22 and sickened hundreds.
Lack of political will
Bob Kingston, president of the Agriculture Union – PSAC, which represents food inspectors who work for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), said: “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.”
Consumer body Option Consommateurs (OC) added its voice to the criticism, saying: “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.”
Food safety issues
Many of the recommendations laid down in Weatherill’s report were directed at the CFIA, which was “widely seen as failing to protect Canadian consumers”, said OC.
The report detailed a number of defects in the nation’s food safety system, including a failure by the CFIA to carry out mandatory audits at the Maple Leaf plant at the centre of the outbreak, flaws with the Compliance Verification System (CVS) inspection programme and a lack of inspectors.
“In short, Ms. Weatherill found that there are too few inspectors covering too much territory, hobbled by a new inspection system that never worked properly,” Kingston said.
The 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.”
At present the Canadian parliament has been prorogued which means “there is little that consumers can do to hold the government to account for this dismal performance,” said Kingston. He pointed out that Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz had warned a few months ago that little progress on food safety improvements was possible if the opposition provoked the dissolution of Parliament.
