Media Story
Union warns of cuts to federal food inspection
Jan 24th, 2012
By JESSICA MURPHY, London Free Press Almost four years after a deadly listeriosis outbreak, the union representing federal food inspectors says planned budget cuts could threaten the safety of Canada’s food supply. Bob Kingston, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s Agriculture Union, warned Monday the cuts would undermine exports and consumer confidence. Government [...]
Are Cuts to Canadian Meat Inspection a Spoiler?
Jan 24th, 2012
By Tom Sandborn, TheTyee.ca Is something rotten in the state of Canadian meat inspection? According to the union that represents federal food inspectors and other critics, the answer is yes. In August, the Harper government announced it would withdraw staff from inspecting plants that produce meat for local consumption in B.C., Manitoba and Saskatchewan in [...]
Food inspection budget cuts for CFIA jeered
Jan 24th, 2012
By Canadian Cattlemen The union representing federal food safety inspectors plans to ask Maple Leaf Foods and other processors to lobby for a reversal in proposed cuts to the federal food safety program. In its 2011-12 report on plans and priorities, a three-year expenditure plan each government department and agency must provide, the Canadian Food [...]
Meat inspectors’ union warns of food-safety program cuts
Jan 24th, 2012
By CTV News The Conservative government’s plan to slash spending on food safety could put Canadians at risk of another crisis like the deadly listeriosis outbreak, says the federal meat inspectors’ union. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s latest spending plan proposes deep budget cuts, and the union says the food-safety program will be hit the [...]
Inspectors criticize plan to cut inspections at meat plants
Jan 24th, 2012
By SARAH SCHMIDT, Vancouver Sun OTTAWA — The government’s plan to cut inspectors put in place to plug holes in Canada’s meat-inspection system in the aftermath of a deadly listeriosis outbreak would be a big step backwards, meat inspectors warned Monday. The plan, outlined in Canadian Food Inspection Agency funding estimates, spells out that “resources [...]
Food safety at risk with budget cuts expected, union says
Jan 24th, 2012
By Laura Payton, CBC News Canada’s food inspectors say they fear budget cuts could endanger food safety in Canada. Bob Kingston, the head of the Agriculture Union, raised the issue Monday morning, along with the daughter of a woman who died of listeriosis in 2008. An outbreak of the bacteria at a Maple Leaf Food [...]
As listeria scare fades, Canada cutting food safety inspections
Jan 24th, 2012
By Joanna Smith, Toronto Star OTTAWA—The Conservative government is planning cuts to food safety spending that the union representing federal meat inspectors warns could expose Canadians to another outbreak of food-borne illness. “Make no mistake,” Bob Kingston, president of the Agriculture Union told reporters at a news conference in Ottawa on Monday. “Food safety costs [...]
Ottawa axes food inspectors added in wake of deadly deli-meat outbreak
Jan 24th, 2012
By GLORIA GALLOWAY, Globe and Mail The federal government plans to cut the additional inspectors who were stationed at meat plants across the country after the Maple Leaf listeriosis outbreak killed 23 Canadians in 2008. A recent report by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says “resources will sunset for listeriosis and for increased frequency of [...]
Food Safety Spending in Canada Might Be Cut
Jan 24th, 2012
By Dan Flynn, Food Safety News At some date soon in February or March, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty may follow the tradition of putting on new shoes and walking into the House of Commons with a proposed new federal budget. Ever since it received the report of an independent inquiry into the deadly 2008 [...]
Same as it ever was: 3 years after listeria in Maple Leaf cold cuts killed 23 Canada still asleep
Dec 20th, 2011
By Doug Powell, Barfblog The Canadian government has fixed food safety. They said so in a press release. [Read more...]
Our inspectors can’t stop dangerous food imports
Jun 14th, 2011
By Bob Kingston, Ottawa Citizen The Canadian Food Inspection Agency might be trying hard to protect Canadian consumers from unsafe imported food. But, the simple fact is the agency is too broke to keep such products from store shelves. Canada’s import food inspection is a patchwork that ignores some products, while others are examined, with [...]
Apples top list of most pesticide-laden fruit
Jun 14th, 2011
By CTV.ca News Staff The old saying that an apple a day keeps the doctor away may need an asterisk, in the wake of a new report says some of the most popular produce contains the highest levels of pesticides. [More...]
Food, beverages imported from Taiwan may contain toxic chemical: CFIA
May 30th, 2011
By Sarch Schmidt, PostMedia News Food and drink products from Taiwan tainted with a toxic chemical may have found their way into Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned Sunday as a local food-safety scandal goes global. [More...]
Feces in imported food from less developed countries a rising concern: scientist
May 24th, 2011
By Derek Abma, PostMedia News Importing food from less developed countries increasingly leads to people literally eating more crap, according to scientists in the United States. [More...]
Consumer groups irked over suspension of some food inspections
Apr 30th, 2011
By Sarah Schmidt, Post Media News Consumer groups on Friday said Canada’s food inspection agency is making a big mistake by indefinitely suspending inspection activities that were meant to make sure food companies and restaurants don’t mislead consumers with underweight products or exaggerated nutrition claims. [More...]
Consumer groups irked over suspension of some food inspections
Apr 29th, 2011
By Sarah Schmidt, Post Media News Consumer groups on Friday said Canada’s food inspection agency is making a big mistake by indefinitely suspending inspection activities that were meant to make sure food companies and restaurants don’t mislead consumers with underweight products or exaggerated nutrition claims. [More...]
Inspections of food weights, nutrition claims suspended
Apr 29th, 2011
By Sarah Schmidt, Post Media News OTTAWA – The federal government has suspended inspection activities indefinitely that were meant to make sure food companies and restaurants don’t mislead consumers with underweight products or exaggerated nutrition claims, Postmedia News has learned. [More...]
Grocers mislabel foreign produce as local
Apr 26th, 2011
By Kathy Tomlinson, CBC News A major western Canadian grocery chain has been selling produce advertised as “B.C. Grown” that came from the United States or elsewhere, CBC News has found. [More...]
CFIA to name food companies, importers that break rules
Mar 17th, 2011
By Sarah Schmidt, Postmedia News The federal government is starting to out food manufacturers that run into serious trouble with its inspectors, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Wednesday. [More...]
Puffed-up food claims rampant: ex-CFIA official
Mar 8th, 2011
By Sarah Schmidt, PostMedia News Exaggerated food claims are rampant on labels in Canadian grocery stores, but government inspectors are right not to crack down on them, the former president of Canada’s food police says. [More...]
BC Meat Processor Drops Federal Inspection
Feb 13th, 2011
By News Desk, Food Safety News A meat processor that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency suspected had an E. coli contamination problem last November is opting out of federal inspection entirely and will be regulated only by the Province of British Columbia. [More...]
B.C. meat plant covers up positive E-coli test
Jan 20th, 2011
CBC.ca One of British Columbia’s largest meat processing plants covered up lab results that showed a sample of its product was contaminated with the deadly E. coli O157 strain, CBC News has learned. [More...]
Alleged ‘loophole’ lets stores change best-before date
Jan 6th, 2011
By Jon Woodward, ctvbc.ca A consumer advocate says he’s shocked about an alleged “loophole” in Canadian law that punishes grocery stores for changing a packaged-on date on perishable foods — but allows grocery stores to change a best-before date. [More...]
Food imports safe, say feds
Dec 8th, 2010
By Laura Payton, Toronto Sun The man in charge of making sure Canada’s food is safe says the system is effective, with audits showing almost perfect compliance for food imports. [More...]
Ten Years Later, They’re Still Haunted by E. coli
Dec 3rd, 2010
By Ross Anderson, Food Safety News Ten years ago, the picturesque farming town of Walkerton, Ontario, was plunged into a nightmare of food poisoning that sickened 2,300 residents, killed seven, and terrorized the town and its surroundings for weeks. [More...]
Former Health Canada chief slams agency for backing food claims without posting studies
Dec 2nd, 2010
By Sarah Schmidt, PostMedia News The former head of Health Canada’s nutritional sciences bureau blasted the federal department Monday for failing to explain why it is approving health claims submitted by the food industry. [More...]
Critics bite into food safety
Nov 30th, 2010
By Laura Payton, Toronto Sun It’s hard to know whether the food you’re buying at the grocery store is safe, say critics of Canada’s food inspection system. [More...]
Thought for food
Oct 4th, 2010
Winnipeg Free Press Editorial Whether it is because Canadians are eating more food or growing less of it, an increasingly large proportion of the food we consume comes from other countries. This is not really anything new. Everyone knows that mangoes don’t grow in Manitoba — at least not naturally — and that kangaroo stew [...]
Correct food labels could save more lives
Sep 29th, 2010
By Ethan Baron, The Province Your federal government used your tax money to test foods you eat, and found manufacturers were labelling large numbers of products with false information about the contents. Want to know the names of the manufacturers and products? Your government won’t tell you. When asked why they won’t disclose that information, [...]
Conservatives defend food safety as furor grows over CFIA audit
Sep 24th, 2010
By Sarah Schmidt, PostMedia News The Conservative government on Friday defended its record on food safety after an internal audit found imported foods are sailing across the border without proper inspections to make sure they’re safe. [More...]
Audit questions imported food safety – System is ‘all over the map’ charges inspector rep.
Sep 24th, 2010
By Sarah Schmidt, PostMedia News The safety of imported foods in Canada is at risk because of multiple “deficiencies” with the federal government’s oversight system, a newly released internal audit has found. [More...]
Food watchdog asks who’s minding the store
Sep 24th, 2010
By Gloria Galloway, The Gobe and Mail The amount of imported food landing on Canadian dinner plates is growing, but the federal agency responsible for inspecting what Canadians eat relies to a large extent on inspectors in other countries to ensure it is safe. [More...]
