Ottawa – The federal government should move quickly to implement recommendations concerning food inspection resources contained in a report tabled in Parliament this morning, according to the Agriculture Union – PSAC, which represents government food inspectors.

Following two months of public hearings, the parliamentary food safety committee expressed concern about the inspector shortage and CFIA’s inability to accurately report on the number of meat inspectors and how much time they devote to hands-on inspection activities.

As a result, the committee called on the federal government to “undertake a comprehensive review of the resources, including training, that Canadian Food Inspection Agency needs to properly implement, execute and enforce all food inspection activities and that the government make that review public”.

“I hope Minister Ritz acts without delay to implement this recommendation.  It is an essential first step to address the inspector shortage that is undermining food safety and consumer confidence,” says Bob Kingston, President of the Agriculture Union – PSAC.

The committee also called on the CFIA to co-operate with the Agriculture Union to “find the means and technology such that they can provide accurate, real-time evaluation of inspector resources”.

“Minister Ritz and his cabinet colleagues have every right to accurate and timely information they need to make informed spending decisions.  CFIA failed to meet this expectation,” Kingston said.

For example, Minister Ritz has publicly stated that 58 new meat inspectors had been hired in 2009, only to be contradicted later by the CFIA which wrote to the food safety committee that “Of these 57 full time resources or FTEs, none are dedicated to meat inspection”.

The committee’s concern about inspection resources was the result of compelling evidence and testimony:

  • Don Irons, a meat inspection supervisor responsible for the Maple Leaf facility in Toronto whose product killed 22 Canadians last year, testified that “…we were grossly resourced, starved…” in the months prior to the outbreak.

When asked if anything has changed, does he now have the resources needed to ensure the food we eat is safe, Mr. Irons replied “no, I do not”.

  • A CFIA briefing note to the Minister declared the “Inspection program (is) experiencing workload challenges in meeting delivery requirements”.
  • Inspectors at the Maple Leaf Foods Bartor Rd. plant spent as little as 15 minutes a day at the plant according to timesheets released by the CFIA.
  • Most inspectors are unable to verify that food companies are complying with safety requirements because they have too many facilities to inspect.

The Agriculture Union welcomes the CFIA’s new listeria policy and agrees with the Conservative MPs on the committee that it is important that CFIA inspectors conduct their own testing for the presence of bacteria in the environment of food factories, but cautions these new duties must be accompanied by new inspection personnel to carry them out.

The committee also recommended measures to restore some transparency to the food industry by calling for a return to the practice of making public meat establishment audits reports that were killed in 2006.  This recommendation is supported by the Agriculture Union.

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For information: Jim Thompson 613-447-9592