The federal government made an important announcement on food safety that is a direct response to you and thousands like you who have voiced their concern about the shortage of food safety inspectors.

Beginning immediately, the federal government will invest $75 million to improve food safety, including the hiring of 70 new processed meat inspectors, an increase of about 35% in processed meat inspection staff.  These new resources will go a long way to ensuring Canadians are not again poisoned by tainted cold cuts and other processed meats.

For those of us who have spoken out about the links between inadequate inspection and the deadly Maple Leaf Foods listeria outbreak last summer that left 22 people dead, this is a significant development.

This shows that individual actions, when taken together, can make a huge difference.  Many thanks to you!

The new investment and new hires are good news, they will bolster only the processed meat inspection program.

But, other inspection programs for meat slaughter, fish processing and in-store inspections all remain woefully short staffed.

For example, there are only two consumer protection inspectors covering all retails food stores in the entire City of Toronto!  And the inspection programs for fish processing and meat slaughter are almost as short staffed, posing real and significant public health risks.

We are gearing up to push for real changes in these food safety inspection programs in the very near future.

Please join our network so we can push for new improvements to our food safety system.