January 29, 2010

Canada government blamed for slow progress in food safety reforms

The union representing federal meat inspectors has given the Canadian government a failing grade for moving too slowly to boost food safety since the listeriosis outbreak of 2008.

Awarding an overall D- on a lengthy report card of specific failures, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and a non-profit group charged the government has dragged its feet on 57 safety recommendations made by an independent investigator last summer.

There has been little visible progress, Bob Kingston, president of the agriculture union of PSAC said.

Most of the recommendations, contained in the report by Sheila Weatherill, were aimed at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). But Kingston said the CFIA has not been given enough resources and has no political support.

As the CFIA is so resource-starved, improvements in one area of food safety have been made to the detriment of other areas, he said.

But CFIA executive vice-president Dr. Brian Evans said the report card is in no way representative of the effort and achievements that have been made since 2008 to ensure greater food safety.

"There have been substantive investments made in the food inspection system in Canada," he said, citing CAD75 million (US$71 million) set aside for improved safety measures following the Weatherill report. In addition, he said, the agency is hiring 70 more meat inspectors over three years, 30 of them by the end of the current fiscal year in March.