CFIA can’t track meat-inspector numbers
By: Sarah Schmidt, The Ottawa Citizen
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency cannot be sure how many meat inspectors are stationed at plants across the country, according to an agency briefing note released to parliamentarians as they begin their investigation into the state of food safety.
The document didn’t sit well with members of the special parliamentary committee, who held their inaugural meeting on Wednesday probing last year’s deadly listeriosis outbreak traced back to a meat-processing plant in Toronto operated by Maple Leaf Foods.
Malcolm Allen, an NDP MP, called the admission astounding.
“Any business can tell you how many people do specific jobs in their organization, and I am astounded that the CFIA cannot tell Canadians how many people inspect our meat supply,” he said
“This is unacceptable.”
The new admission comes despite assurances in the same document that the number of inspectors dedicated to meat inspection has risen every year for the last decade.
The CFIA cited a supporting chart showing the number of inspectors now tops 3,000, up from about 1,900 a decade ago. But this includes employees who don’t handle meat inspections.
“Given that there are a number of inspector positions that are multi-purpose, in that they do not focus on one commodity, the CFIA’s current tracking and information systems do not allow us to accurately identify all inspection staff devoted to meat inspection,” the briefing note said.
“The CFIA is currently working on improving its data capture and information system to better monitor work being completed by inspectors.”
The revelation also comes on the heels of testimony by a senior agency official on Tuesday, who told members of the Senate finance committee that the 58 food inspectors hired since last fall are not working as meat inspectors at plants.
When Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced these new positions in August, after a definitive link was made between tainted meat produced at the Maple Leaf plant and the deaths of Canadians, he said the new food inspectors would be “on the front lines.”
The CFIA’s vice-president of operations, Cameron Prince, testified on Tuesday the “primary focus” of these new hires is the monitoring of imported foods.
Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter, elected as a vice-chairman of the parliamentary food-safety committee on Wednesday, said the CFIA backgrounder confirming the agency can’t say for sure how many staff are working as meat inspectors “tells you the minister is pulling numbers from thin air.”
