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GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE THIRD REPORT OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND
AGRI-FOOD - SUBCOMMITTEE ON FOOD SAFETY
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The Government of Canada is pleased to respond to the Third Report of
the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food (SCAAF),
Subcommittee on Food Safety, on enhancing the food safety system in Canada. The Government
agrees with the spirit of the Report and shares the
Committee's commitment to improve food safety for all Canadians.
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The nature of Canada’s food supply is becoming increasingly complex. The
environment in which food is produced and processed has evolved as a result of
new technologies and consumer demands. Changes in distribution networks and increased
global trade have resulted in larger volumes of food products moving across
domestic and international boundaries.
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In light of this continuously evolving and complex food safety
environment, the Government of Canada has carefully considered the Committee’s
recommendations. Furthermore, on July 21, 2009, the final report of the Independent
Investigator into the August 2008 listeriosis outbreak was released to
the public. The Report contains 57 recommendations for improvements to Canada’s food
safety system. These recommendations are directed towards the meat
processing industry, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the Public
Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Health Canada.
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The Government will keep food safety a priority. It will continue to
work with industry stakeholders as well as domestic and international
government partners to move forward on initiatives to strengthen the safety and
integrity of Canada’s food supply.
Recommendation 1
The Subcommittee recommends that the
government call for a fully transparent and independent public inquiry, with
all the powers provided under the Inquiries Act, into the actions of the
federal government, its agencies and departments in relation to the events
leading up to, during, and subsequent to the listeriosis crisis of summer 2008.
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The Government of Canada is committed to providing Canadians with an
open and transparent account of the events surrounding the listeriosis outbreak
related to ready-to-eat meats at Maple Leaf Foods in 2008. Due diligence was
exercised and full cooperation was provided to both the Committee and the
Independent Investigator, Ms. Sheila Weatherill, who testified before the
Committee that her investigation received full cooperation from all parties involved,
as she reviewed millions of documents and interviewed over 100 witnesses.
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The Government of Canada is confident that actions taken to date to
investigate the events, circumstances and factors that contributed to the
listeriosis outbreak, as well as actions taken to review the efficiency and
effectiveness of the response by federal agencies have been thorough, inclusive
and comprehensive.
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Since the outbreak occurred, reviews have been conducted by the three
federal organizations that responded (CFIA, Health Canada and PHAC); the
Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care; SCAAF; and the Independent
Investigator. Each of these reviews has resulted in published reports with
recommendations for improvement. Together, they are a strong roadmap to guide
the Government as it continues to makes improvements to Canada’s food safety system.
Recommendation 2
The Subcommittee recommends that the
government ensure that up-to-date food safety and processing technologies as
well as new scientific evidence be included in all risk assessments and that
this should be achieved by establishing a process of ongoing review of food
safety standards.
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The Government of Canada agrees that it is important to ensure that the
most up-to-date evidence is considered in health risk assessments. State of
the art modelling and risk assessment techniques, foresight analysis, targeted
sampling and links to industry developments are critical to understanding the
nature and scope of potential risks to health.
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Health Canada continues to enhance risk assessment capacity with
expertise and state of the art science, tools and methodologies. This allows
an improved understanding of the effects of processing technologies to be
incorporated into assessments. Health Canada has also improved the logging and
tracking of health risk assessments and will be undertaking regular review of
these assessments to conduct trend analysis, consider new scientific evidence
and identify emerging issues. In addition, Health Canada is establishing a
multi-stakeholder advisory committee in Canada and working internationally to develop
and share leading edge science that will support risk assessments.
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The Government agrees that the review of food safety standards should be
an ongoing activity and is working to improve the regular review of policies
and standards. This will help to ensure that they continue to be relevant and
effective, and reflect the most current science. Health Canada is reviewing microbiological
standards and is updating the 2004 Policy on Listeria
monocytogenes in Ready-to-Eat Foods to promote better control of Listeria in high-risk
foods and environments. The revised policy will incorporate the
latest science available, and is targeted for completion by March 30th, 2010.
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As the CFIA relies on health risk assessments to guide decision-making
on recall activities, the Agency will work closely with Health Canada on implementing this recommendation.
Recommendation 3
The Subcommittee recommends that the government increase its collaborative efforts
with the United States and consult with stakeholders and consumers on the
possibility of developing a common approach to food safety standards.
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The Government supports the need for further collaboration with food
safety partners in Canada and abroad. Given the global nature of the food
supply and food safety issues, there are mutual benefits for all partners to
work together to review and establish food standards. This is particularly
true for Canada and the United States (U.S.) in view of the close integration
of the food production systems. The CFIA and Health Canada work closely with
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of
Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) to foster enhanced
communication and regulatory cooperation. The Government of Canada has also
established solid working relationships with counterpart organizations in other
countries, and has actively encouraged the alignment of food safety standards
and risk management approaches in multilateral fora, in particular in Codex
Alimentarius.
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The Government agrees that consulting with stakeholders and consumers on
food safety issues is important. The development of food safety standards in Canada includes
a strong consultative component with industry, consumers, provincial and
territorial partners and other stakeholders to ensure that their concerns and
issues (including comparability with international approaches) are considered.
Recommendation 4
The Subcommittee recommends that the government encourage the implementation of
HACCP-based food safety systems certified by the appropriate food safety
authority.
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The Government agrees, based on scientific knowledge currently
available, that the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) represents
the most effective means of improving food safety control in food processing.
The Government will continue to encourage the use of HACCP-based programs for
food production and has provided funding for the development and implementation
of voluntary HACCP-based on-farm and post-farm food safety programs since
1997. An additional $130 million under Growing Forward, the agricultural
policy framework launched in 2009, has been set aside to facilitate industry
adoption of food safety control systems.
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Currently, it is mandatory for all federally registered meat, poultry and
fish establishments to develop, implement and maintain a HACCP system. The
CFIA encourages the implementation of HACCP systems in all federally registered
dairy, processed product, egg, processed egg, honey, maple, and hatchery
establishments.
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The CFIA ensures the implementation and maintenance of HACCP systems in
federally registered meat and poultry establishments, by conducting regulatory
system audits and verification activities. The Agency also encourages the use
of HACCP-based systems in other commodities, by holding industry information sessions,
providing generic HACCP models and a hazard database that may be used by
industry during their HACCP implementation process. In addition, the CFIA
provides services to recognize a company's HACCP system based on international
requirements.
Recommendation 5
The Subcommittee recommends that
the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, cooperatively with the union, finds the
means and technology such that they can provide accurate, real-time evaluation
of inspector resources.
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The CFIA is committed to cooperating with unions. The CFIA is
reviewing its data on inspector positions. This review will enable the
creation of an inventory of inspector positions that identifies the commodity
linked to each position, such as ready-to-eat-meat inspectors. The Agency's
human resources information system will be upgraded to better capture this
detailed information. This will allow for more accurate and timely assessment
and reporting of the Agency's inspector resources.
Recommendation 6
The Subcommittee recommends that the government undertake a comprehensive review of
the resources, including training, that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency
(CFIA) needs to properly implement, execute and enforce all food inspection
activities; and that the government make that review public.
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The Government will retain independent third-party experts to undertake
a comprehensive review of CFIA resources directed towards food safety outcomes,
including an analysis of the resources required to deliver the compliance
verification system (CVS).
Recommendation 7
The Subcommittee
recommends that the government implement a system to recognize the equivalency
of existing provincial inspection systems in comparison to the federal
inspection system.
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The Government of Canada agrees with the spirit of this recommendation
and recognizes that there are benefits associated with better integration of
all inspection tools and approaches within the context of international food
safety standards.
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Recently at their July 2009 meeting, Federal/Provincial/Territorial (FPT)
Ministers of Agriculture agreed to take a national, science-based approach to
food safety and directed officials to advance work in three key areas: enhanced
surveillance, pathogen reduction in meat and poultry, and common meat hygiene
standards. These actions will build on progress made by federal, provincial and
territorial governments in upgrading and improving their systems.
Recommendation 8
The Subcommittee
recommends that the government provide funding for food safety initiatives at
the different levels of the food supply chain, including the implementation of
policy changes that support the development of novel approaches to foodborne
pathogens.
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Since 1997, the Government of Canada has provided funding for the
development and implementation of voluntary HACCP-based on-farm and post-farm
food safety programs.
Growing Forward, the agricultural
policy framework launched in 2009, furthers this effort through the Canadian
Integrated Food Safety Initiative, which facilitates industry adoption of food
safety control systems. The federal share of the FPT Growing Forward initiative
will contribute up to an additional $130 million toward these food safety
programs by 2013.
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The Government of Canada supports the development and implementation of
novel approaches to reduce food pathogens. Health Canada scientific research
in this area has led to the development of more rapid and sensitive methods of
detection and varied technologies for inactivation of pathogens. Health Canada is
also working to improve the review and approval of submissions for technologies
and processes with proven effectiveness to meet public health needs. Sodium
acetate and sodium diacetate, for example, have been approved for use and will
help to reduce the growth of pathogens in several foods, including ready-to-eat
meats.
Recommendation 9
The Subcommittee
recommends that the federal government develop initiatives designed to work
towards the removal of E. coli from the Canadian food chain.
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The Government of Canada agrees that continued work is required to
reduce foodborne pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7 within Canada’s food supply.
These pathogens may come from a variety of sources and the
Government is working with its partners to reduce the risk of illness through
the food continuum, i.e., from “farm to fork”.
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FPT partners are working together to develop a national approach on
pathogen reduction in meat and poultry, including E. coli O157:H7. This work was
identified by the FPT Agriculture Ministers in February and July 2009, as part
of an overall strategy to take a national, science- based approach to food
safety.
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In terms of policy, Health Canada and the CFIA are collaborating to
update the guideline for the control of E. coli O157:H7 in raw beef products
and Health Canada is working on a new policy for enhanced use of safe food
handling labels on raw ground beef and poultry.
Recommendation 10
The Subcommittee
recommends that the government restore and publish the Establishment Inspection
Reports and Establishment Ratings.
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The Government of Canada is aware that consumers are interested in the
food safety performance of parties that manufacture food. The CFIA is committed
to keeping consumers informed of food safety risks and has a robust program of
publicizing and posting Class 1 and 2 recalls on its website.
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The CFIA is actively investigating ways to share information on industry
performance in a manner consistent with its obligations to protect private
information.
Recommendation 11
The Subcommittee recommends that the government
enhance the national foodborne illnesses surveillance system by developing
programs to gather epidemiological data on foodborne illnesses in Canada and
that it initiate discussions with the provinces to add relevant foodborne
illnesses to the list of nationally notifiable diseases.
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The Government of Canada recognizes the need for a comprehensive ongoing
national surveillance system for foodborne illness. Surveillance is a key
knowledge and management tool for decision-makers to implement policies that
reduce the impact of foodborne illness and to measure the effectiveness of food
safety programs. The Government of Canada has worked to build an effective and
coordinated surveillance system for foodborne illness in collaboration with
provincial and territorial partners.
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The National Enteric Surveillance System (NESP) and PulseNet Canada are
complementary, national systems that contribute to the timely analysis and
reporting of laboratory confirmed enteric (gastrointestinal) disease cases and
detection of outbreaks. PHAC has expanded the PulseNet Canada network to
formally include the CFIA, substantially improving the CFIA’s ability to detect
and respond to outbreaks of foodborne illness. C-EnterNet supports foodborne
illness surveillance efforts by monitoring results from sentinel sites to
detect trends in human illness and pathogen exposure levels.
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PHAC is currently leading two other initiatives to improve outbreak
reporting across the country and to link data from all stakeholders’ laboratory
systems through a common government interface.
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In terms of notifiable diseases, the development of the National
Notifiable Disease (NND) list is a collaborative effort between public health
officials, epidemiologists and laboratory experts from the provinces and
territories and from the PHAC. Health Canada and PHAC have worked with
partners to revise the NND list, such that Listeriosis is now a notifiable
disease in all provinces and territories.
RECOMMENDATION 12
The Subcommittee recommends that the government review
with the provinces the inter-agency protocols in place during an outbreak,
including the public communication and information sharing components, and
conduct real-scale simulation to validate these protocols.
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The Government of Canada is committed to working with
provincial/territorial (P/T) partners to improve coordination and response to
food safety outbreak situations. The CFIA, Health Canada and PHAC will work
with P/T’s to review and update the Foodborne Illness Outbreak Response
Protocol (FIORP), to enhance awareness of roles and responsibilities, and to improve
public communication and information sharing. Processes are being developed to
enhance effective and efficient response of federal partners during an
outbreak. Federal partners are working to review the capacity and tools
required to meet surge needs and allow effective sharing of information in
order to respond to outbreak situations. Engagement with provinces and
territories is planned to ensure a coordinated and collaborative response to
multi-jurisdictional foodborne illness outbreaks.
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Federal food safety partners have streamlined their approach to
communication on food safety issues to clarify roles and responsibilities for
joint communication. In addition, the CFIA, Health Canada and PHAC are
developing a plan to ensure vulnerable populations continue to receive
proactive food safety advice and the information they need during foodborne
illness outbreaks.
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A Memorandum of Understanding on Information Sharing during a Public
Health Emergency (MOU) was approved in principle by the FPT Health Ministers in
September 2008. This MOU is a necessary first step to ensure timely, complete,
and accurate sharing of information between federal, provincial and territorial
jurisdictions. The PHAC is leading an effort to establish formal agreements
between jurisdictions for routine sharing of information related to public
health events.
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Five mock federal/provincial/territorial food safety exercises have been
conducted to date. The Government of Canada is committed to developing and
running further simulations to identify additional areas of improvement for
inter-organizational cooperation and communications.
Recommendation 13
The Subcommittee recommends that the government review
the legislative basis for the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Chief
Public Health Officer with a view to ensuring independence from government
departments and ministerial influence, so as to protect and restore faith and
confidence in Canada’s public health system.
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The Public Health Agency of Canada Act affirms the federal
government's commitment to public health. The Act underscores the important
role that the PHAC and the Chief Public Health Officer (CPHO) play to
strengthen the public health system, reduce public health risk factors and
support national readiness for public health threats.
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As deputy head of the Agency, the CPHO manages the operations of the
Agency under the Minister of Health. Further, as the lead public health
professional in Canada, the CPHO may issue reports independently on matters
relating to public health. The CPHO may also communicate with health
authorities and organizations in Canada and abroad to give information or gain
their view on public health.
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As the Agency is a distinct entity and the CPHO has the ability to speak
to Canadians directly on health issues, the current legislative framework
provides the Agency and the CPHO with the authority required for their
respective roles.
Recommendation 14
The Subcommittee recommends that the government
encourage the development of industry-led traceability systems for all
commodities and products.
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The Government of Canada, along with its provincial and territorial
counterparts, is supporting industry-government partnership through an
investment under Growing Forward of over $100 million over 5 years that will
reduce the costs related to implementing traceability systems.
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This program will strengthen and enhance sectoral traceability databases and systems,
while encouraging the adoption of affordable traceability systems throughout
the agri-food industry. At their meeting in July 2009, FPT Ministers of
Agriculture, with the exception of Saskatchewan, committed to move forward on a
comprehensive national traceability system for livestock and poultry. They
agreed that a mandatory, comprehensive national system for livestock will be in
place by 2011.
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The domestic and international marketplace is increasingly demanding
assurance systems that allow for quick and easy trace-back of food products in
the event of an animal health crisis or a food recall situation. A national
traceability system, which has the ability to track the movement of livestock,
is becoming a prerequisite for competing internationally with other livestock
producing countries.
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The Livestock Auction Traceability Initiative (LATI) is a $20 million
initiative announced on July 10, 2009, under the Agri-Flexibility Program. LATI
supports improvements in traceability capacity in facilities where live animals
routinely commingle, such as auction marts. The program will provide
contributions to assist in the alteration of animal handling structures which
will enhance animal movement recording/reporting capacity at these facilities.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE DISSENTING OPINION BY THE CONERVATIVE PARTY OF CANADA ON THE REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON FOOD SAFETY
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The Government of Canada is pleased to respond to the Dissenting Report prepared
by the Conservative members of the Government sitting on the House of Commons
Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food (SCAAF) Subcommittee on Food
Safety in Canada.
Recommendation 1
CFIA should continue to
work with Industry to develop HACCP, as it focuses on the
prevention of food safety risks, rather than ‘after-the-fact’ detection on end
products
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The Government agrees, based on scientific knowledge currently available,
that the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) represents the most
effective means of improving food safety control in food processing. The
Government will continue to encourage the use of HACCP-based programs for food
production and has provided funding for the development and implementation of
voluntary HACCP-based on-farm and post-farm food safety programs since 1997.
An additional $130 million under Growing Forward, the agricultural policy
framework launched in 2009, has been set aside to facilitate industry adoption
of food safety control systems.
-
Currently, it is mandatory for all federally registered meat, poultry and
fish establishments to develop, implement and maintain a HACCP system. The
CFIA encourages the implementation of HACCP systems in all federally registered
dairy, processed product, egg, processed egg, honey, maple, and hatchery
establishments.
-
The CFIA ensures the implementation and maintenance of HACCP systems in
federally registered meat and poultry establishments, by conducting regulatory
system audits and verification activities. The Agency also encourages the use
of HACCP-based systems in other commodities, by providing industry information
sessions, providing generic HACCP models and a hazard database that may be used
by industry during their HACCP implementation process. In addition, the CFIA
provides services to accept a company’s HACCP system.
Recommendation 2
CVS should remain the
fundamental system that guides inspectors and assures consistency and uniformity
in their inspection activities.
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The Government of Canada supports the Compliance Verification System
(CVS) remaining the fundamental CFIA system for meat hygiene inspectors. The
CVS is a systematic approach that ensures inspection activities are delivered
according to program design, and ensures that industry compliance is assessed
against established standards that are based in regulation. It assures
consistency and uniformity in inspection activities, and provides a streamlined
process for communicating inspection standards to inspection staff.
Recommendation 3
CFIA needs to undertake a
full evaluation of CVS to ensure that it is working to its full effectiveness.
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The Government will retain independent third-party experts to undertake
a comprehensive review of CFIA resources directed towards food safety outcomes,
including an analysis of the resources required to deliver the CVS.
Recommendation 4
The Government of Canada should continue to support
the new mandatory requirements for Listeria testing and reporting as well as
trend analysis by industry to CFIA inspectors.
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The Government of Canada agrees and for this reason, new mandatory
requirements for Listeria testing and reporting have been incorporated
into the CFIA Listeria directive published on February 27, 2009. CFIA
Inspectors verify the testing and reporting requirements at federally
registered Ready-To-Eat (RTE) meat establishments. Trend analysis is also part
of the CFIA requirements as indicated in the Listeria directive.
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The directive came into effect on April 1, 2009, and CFIA inspectors have received the
necessary training to conduct activities and verification relating
to Listeria control. A review of the implementation of the Listeria
directive will be conducted six months from the implementation date and the
directive will be adjusted as necessary after completion of the review. The Listeria directive
will also be adjusted as required, to reflect any changes made to the Listeria Policy by Health Canada.
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Health Canada is updating its 2004 Listeria Policy for
ready-to-eat foods to promote better control of Listeria in high-risk
foods and environments. The target for completion of the revised policy is the
end of fiscal year 2009/2010.
Recommendation 5
The CFIA should maintain
its evidence-based methodology of initiating recalls.
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The Government of Canada agrees and will continue to initiate any recall
action based on a Health Risk Assessment (HRA). The HRA is provided to the CFIA
by Health Canada which is responsible for establishing policies and standards
relating to the safety and nutritional quality of food sold in Canada. The HRA process uses an
evidence-based methodology when providing a health risk
for products in the marketplace and the CFIA takes action based on the level of
risk indicated in the HRA.
Recommendation 6
The federal government should review its protocols on
providing timely, accurate information to the public and put in place the
necessary protocols and resources to ensure that there is better communication
to the public during a foodborne illness outbreak.
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The Government of Canada is committed to working with
provincial/territorial (P/T) partners to improve coordination and response to
food safety outbreak situations. The CFIA, Health Canada and PHAC will work
with P/T’s to review and update the Foodborne Illness Outbreak Response
Protocol (FIORP), to enhance awareness of roles and responsibilities, and to improve
public communication and information sharing issues. The revisions will ensure
that all partners understand their roles in communicating to the public, that
communications activities and messages are coordinated and that communications
to the general public and those at greater risk for illness, occur within a timely
manner.
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Processes are being developed to enhance effective and efficient
response of federal partners during an outbreak. Federal partners are working
to review the capacity and tools required to meet surge needs and allow
effective sharing of information in order to respond to outbreak situations.
Engagement with provinces and territories is planned to ensure a coordinated
and collaborative response to multi-jurisdictional foodborne illness outbreaks
involving multiple partners.
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The Government has already taken steps to improve communications by
better coordination between government departments and timely dissemination of
clear and consistent information to the public as is evidenced during the H1N1
outbreak and recent recall of wieners due to Listeria.
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Federal food safety partners have streamlined their approach to
communication on food safety issues to clarify roles and responsibilities for
joint communication. In addition, the CFIA, Health Canada and PHAC are
developing a plan to ensure vulnerable populations continue to receive
proactive food safety advice and the information they need during foodborne
illness outbreaks.
Recommendation 7
The Government of Canada should support Health Canada, PHAC and CFIA’s effort to improve communications
between themselves and other jurisdictions.
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The Government of Canada agrees that improvement is critical for a timely
response during a foodborne illness outbreak. The CFIA, Health Canada and PHAC
meet and communicate on a regular basis to address horizontal issues.
During emergencies, specific protocols are activated which describe each organization’s
responsibility in managing the emergency and preventing/reducing the number of
illnesses.
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The Government has already seen strong improvement in both
communications and emergency response operations during the melamine recalls,
H1N1 outbreak and the recent recall of wieners due to Listeria.
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The FIORP was developed by Health Canada, PHAC, CFIA and P/T partners to
guide the multi-jurisdictional response to potential multi-jurisdictional
foodborne illness outbreaks. FIORP is being reviewed and revised in
consultation with P/T’s to improve public communication, and to address
information and data sharing between laboratories.
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A Memorandum of Understanding on Information Sharing during a Public
Health Emergency (MOU) was approved in principle by the federal/provincial/territorial
(FPT) Health Ministers in September 2008. This MOU is a necessary first step
to ensure timely, complete, accurate sharing of information between federal,
provincial and territorial jurisdictions. The PHAC is leading an effort to
establish formal agreements between jurisdictions for routine sharing of
information related to public health events.
-
Five mock FPT food safety exercises have been conducted to date. The
Government of Canada is committed to developing and running further simulations
to identify additional areas of improvement for inter-organizational
cooperation and communications.
Recommendation 8
The FIORP should be
activated when a food borne outbreak becomes apparent in order to better
facilitate cooperation and communication between all levels of government and
their respective agencies and departments.
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The Government of Canada agrees and considers the FIORP an important
element in managing a multi-jurisdictional foodborne illness outbreak. A
central element of the Protocol is the recognition that an Outbreak
Investigation Coordinating Committee (OICC) is to be established as needed to
coordinate a multi-agency response to a foodborne illness outbreak in Canada. The
purpose of the OICC is to allow the partners to share information and
coordinate the outbreak investigation response, using the Protocol as a guide.
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In the wake of the 2008 outbreak, the FIORP is being reviewed by the
PHAC, Health Canada, and CFIA, in consultation with P/T partners to address the
need for improved clarity regarding the establishment of the OICC and its
membership and leadership. Health Canada, CFIA and PHAC will hold information
and training sessions to ensure that employees are aware of the protocol and
their roles and responsibilities, and will participate in simulation exercises
with partners.
Recommendation 9
Due to the complexity of
food production the Government of Canada should continue to underscore the
importance of the work with the provinces and territories to strengthen the
shared responsibility approach to food safety.
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The Government of Canada will continue to work with P/T partners to
strengthen and improve on areas of shared jurisdiction, as it relates to food
safety. There are various FPT Health and Agriculture committees already in
existence, including a joint FPT Food Safety Committee.
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At their meeting in July 2009, FPT Ministers of Agriculture agreed to
take a national, science- based approach on food safety and directed officials to
advance work in three key areas: enhanced surveillance, pathogen reduction in
meat and poultry, and common meat hygiene standards. These actions will build
on progress made by federal, provincial and territorial governments in
upgrading and improving their systems. FPT Ministers of Agriculture, also
committed to move forward on a comprehensive
national traceability system for livestock and poultry, which is critical for
managing animal health and food safety issues.
Recommendation 10
The Government of Canada should adopt a plan to increase awareness and education of the public as to the
importance of food safety at home.
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The Government of Canada agrees that awareness and education are
important elements in the prevention of foodborne illness outbreaks. There are
several programs in place to reach Canadians and make them aware of food safety
at home. These programs continue to be delivered and enhanced and new programs
are being designed to ensure optimal outreach to Canadians.
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The Government of Canada is committed to providing consumers with the
information on food safety risks they need to make informed decisions. The
Government is improving its program for publicizing recalls by posting photos
along with recall notices. To ensure that the information they need is
relevant, consultation with health and consumer associations as well as
consumer focus groups will take place in Fall 2009 to gather input on how to
communicate this information to Canadians in the best ways possible.
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Additionally, the CFIA has initiated outreach appearances by food safety
experts on television food programs and Health Canada is developing an enhanced
communication campaign to improve the knowledge, understanding and food safety
habits of Canadians. Health Canada is also developing a food safety
communications strategy to communicate food safety information to at-risk
groups. Working with its various stakeholders, the Government of Canada is
increasing awareness and education of Canadians on food safety. Furthermore,
Health Canada and the CFIA continue to work with the Canadian Partnership for
Consumer Food Safety Education on general food safety messages for consumers
and on developing targeted consumer communication on specific issues.
Recommendation 11
The Government of Canada should review all findings of the Independent Investigator’s report.
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The Government of Canada is fully committed to ensuring the Canadian
food safety system exceeds the expectations of Canadians. To that end,
the Government is reviewing all findings from the Independent
Investigator's report and is taking action to strengthen the safety and
integrity of Canada’s food safety system.
Recommendation 12
The Government of Canada should release the Independent Investigator’s report to the public.
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The report of the Independent Investigator was submitted to the Minister
of Agriculture and Agri-Food on July 20, 2009 and released to the public by the
Independent Investigator on July 21, 2009.
Recommendation 13
The Government of Canada should continue to make food safety a priority and provide CFIA with adequate
budgets to ensure Canada’s food system is safe.
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The Government will retain independent third-party experts to undertake
a comprehensive review of CFIA resources directed towards food safety outcomes,
including an analysis of the resources required to deliver the CVS.
Recommendation 14
The Government of Canada should hire more inspectors as warranted and provide the proper training and
resources for them to do their job.
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The Government of Canada supports its strong and vibrant workforce,
which makes countless contributions on a daily basis to protect the safety of
food in the Canadian marketplace. The CFIA supports its employees by ensuring
they have the necessary tools to carry out their responsibilities.
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The CFIA is developing strategies and options to improve the recruitment
and retention of technical experts with specialized expertise.
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In addition, the Government will retain independent third-party experts
to undertake a comprehensive review of CFIA resources directed towards food
safety outcomes, including an analysis of the resources required to deliver the
CVS.
Recommendation 15
The Government of Canada should ensure that its food safety standards are applied consistently
across Canada in all federal inspected components of the supply chain.
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The Government of Canada agrees that it is important that food safety
standards are applied consistently in all federally inspected components of the
supply chain, and undertakes regular reviews to identify new scientific
evidence, emerging issues and challenges that need to be considered in standard
setting.
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Health Canada is responsible for establishing policies and setting
standards for the safety and nutritional value of food. The CFIA provides all
federal inspection services related to food safety, and enforces the food
safety and nutritional quality standards established by Health Canada. The CFIA
incorporates food safety standards in directives to industry and in food
safety related inspection manuals and has made it a priority to update and
modernize these manuals.
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The CFIA applies food safety standards uniformly across the meat program
by using the CVS to assess regulatory compliance. This science-based approach
provides front-line inspectors with consistent guidance on how to monitor and
verify industry's compliance with the regulations. In addition to inspection
tools like CVS, the CFIA provides training to inspectors to ensure a uniform
understanding of requirements.
Recommendation 16
The Government of Canada should encourage its provincial/territorial partners to adopt an equivalent food safety
standard in all provincial/territorial abattoirs without putting undue pressure
on smaller operations which may cause them to go out of business.
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The Government of Canada is fully committed to ensuring that the
Canadian food safety system exceeds the expectations of Canadians. Recently at
their July 2009 meeting, FPT Ministers of Agriculture agreed to take a
national, science-based approach to food safety and directed officials to
advance work in three key areas: enhanced surveillance, pathogen reduction in
meat and poultry, and common meat hygiene standards. These actions will build
on progress made by federal, provincial and territorial governments in
upgrading and improving their systems.
Recommendation 17
CFIA should review its
policies and procedures with respect to advance warning for imported meat
products to Canada.
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The Government of Canada agrees and is reviewing its policies and
procedures with respect to advance warning for the inspection of meat products
imported to Canada.
Recommendation 18
The Government of Canada should continue to ensure imports meet the same standards as domestically produced
products.
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The Government of Canada has demonstrated its commitment to food safety
by committing $113 million in 2008 through the Food and Consumer Safety Action
Plan (FCSAP). Through the FCSAP, the Government of Canada is increasing
inspection and verification of industry’s food safety systems in the
highest-risk areas, particularly the imported food sector. Front-line CFIA
inspection staff have been increased to undertake border blitzes for high risk
commodities, particularly where importers are non-compliant, in order to
increase the interception of non-compliant products before
distribution, to improve compliance, and to provide additional protection to
Canadians.
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To protect Canadians from risks associated with imported foods and to
signal to exporting countries as well as domestic producers that Canada is
vigilant in ensuring that imported foods meet Canadian food safety standards,
the CFIA is implementing several actions such as border inspection activities
and post-entry verification of imported food commodities; enhanced tracking of
food imports through electronic business solutions; and, enhanced inspections
of high risks sectors.
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The Government of Canada has also notified its trading partners, via the
World Trade Organization (WTO), of the new requirements for RTE meat products,
and that equivalent control measures for Listeria monocytogenes in RTE
meat products are required for exports to Canada as of April 30, 2009.
A review of foreign systems will be done by Winter 2010.
Recommendation 19
The Government of Canada should review the present system of pre-market labelling to protect the integrity of
imported agricultural products while providing greater flexibility for Canadian
companies to provide these imported products to consumers in a timely and safe
manner.
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The Government of Canada agrees and the CFIA has reviewed its current
practice. Steps have been taken to reduce any backlog of labels to be reviewed
and to remain within current time standards to ensure imported products are
available to consumers in a timely and safe manner. The CFIA will continue to monitor
its label review process to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of
pre-market labelling.
Recommendation 20
The Government of Canada should continue to challenge COOL at the WTO and strive for a
negotiated settlement.
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The Government of Canada agrees and is taking action on behalf of
Canadian farmers in the dispute over U.S. country-of-origin labelling (COOL)
measures. Canada has taken the next step in the WTO dispute settlement process
by formally seeking further consultations with the United States.
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Mexico is in the process of filing a similar request at the WTO. This
underscores both countries’ concerns over the impact of COOL on the integrated
North American industry. WTO consultations provide parties with an opportunity
to resolve a dispute through discussions. If consultations fail to resolve the
matter, the complaining party may request that the matter be referred to a WTO
dispute settlement panel.
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Canada has engaged its US counterparts through bilateral discussion on
the issue of COOL. Canada does not consider this to be a food safety issue,
but rather considers this a measure against the livestock sector.
Recommendation 21
The Government of Canada
should continue to invest in traceability to further protect the initial stages
of the food supply chain and increase competitiveness by ensuring these costs
are not passed on to Canada’s primary producers.
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The Government of Canada, along with its provincial and territorial
counterparts, is supporting industry-government partnership through an
investment under Growing Forward of over $100 million over five years that will
reduce the costs related to implementing traceability systems.
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FPT Ministers of Agriculture (except for Saskatchewan) committed to move
forward on a comprehensive national traceability system for livestock and
poultry, which is critical for managing animal health and food safety issues,
as well as expanding market access and driving efficiencies. They agreed that a
mandatory, comprehensive, national system for livestock will be in place by 2011 and that
implementation will be supported by national funding and a regulatory
framework.
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In addition to providing financial support, governments are examining
how traceability information can be shared for emergency management and what
regulatory frameworks may be required. This program will strengthen and
enhance sectoral traceability databases and systems, while encouraging the
adoption of affordable traceability systems throughout the agri-food industry.
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The domestic and international marketplace is increasingly demanding
assurance systems that allow for quick and easy traceback of food products in
the event of an animal health crisis or a food recall situation. A national
traceability system, which has the ability to track the movement of livestock,
is becoming a prerequisite for competing internationally with other livestock
producing countries.
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The Livestock Auction Traceability Initiative (LATI) is a $20 million
initiative announced on July 10, 2009 under the Agri-Flexibility Program. LATI
supports improvements in traceability capacity in facilities where live animals
routinely commingle, such as auction marts. The program will provide
contributions to assist in the alteration of animal handling structures which
will enhance animal movement recording/reporting capacity at sites where animals
from different herds commingle.
Recommendation 22
The Government of Canada should support farmers’
efforts to produce safe food, implement farm HACCP systems, and ensure
producers can operate in the most competitive environment possible.
-
The Government
of Canada has provided funding for the development and implementation of on-farm
food safety and post-farm food safety programs. These programs have been
developed by industry and reviewed through an FPT recognition process, led by the
CFIA with the support of the Agricultural Policy Framework and Growing Forward
Policy Framework. The programs are based on internationally recognized HACCP
and their adoption by industry will contribute to the enhancement of food
safety. The federal share of the FPT Growing Forward initiative will
contribute up to an additional $ 130 million toward these food safety programs
by 2013. These programs are essential tools for farmers to effectively manage
food safety risks, to maintain and increase buyer confidence, and to access
international markets
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