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...]
Briefing Note – Inspection of Imported Food
Dec 7th, 2010
To: Members of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-food The inspection of food imports in Canada is one of the weakest components of the CFIA’s work. Consider: There are no inspectors dedicated to imports for food safety purposes CFIA cannot afford to dedicate full time inspectors to ensure the safety of imported food products. [...]
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...]
Lax controls mean imported food might not meet Canadian standards: report
Sep 23rd, 2010
By Steve Rennie, The Canadian Press Food from other countries is coming into Canada without full assurance it meets federal safety requirements, says a newly released report. [More...]
No one minding the food import store
Sep 23rd, 2010
Ottawa (23 September 2010) Canadians worried about the safety of imported food will take no comfort from an internal audit of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s imported food safety program which condemns the Agency’s lack of a strategy, management and accountability for ensuring the foods imported into Canada are safe. According to the audit, “CFIA [...]
Healthier food claims often inaccurate, says CFIA report
Sep 22nd, 2010
By Sarah Schmidt, PostMedia News Six out of 10 candies, baked goods and breads at the grocery store overstated things such as “sugar free,” “low in fat” or “100 per cent whole wheat” to convince shoppers to indulge in a treat or pay a premium, newly released government inspection test results show. [More...]
Just what are we putting in our mouths? Food inspection agency should be thinking of consumers first
Sep 20th, 2010
By Paula Simons, EdmontonJournal.com Perhaps you’re sitting in your kitchen, munching your 100-percent whole wheat toast, feeling virtuous about your fibre intake. [More...]
Why won’t the Tories take a food company to court?
Sep 10th, 2010
By Sarah Schmidt, Postmedia News The Conservative government has played the consumer card over and over since coming to power. Some moves have been significant (drafting modern consumer product safety legislation) while others have been all about the headline (Industry Minister chastising big telcos over text message charges). And it’s not unusual to see the [...]
Ready-to-eat salads, new pathogens fuel rise in contaminated produce
Aug 9th, 2010
By Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun The popularity of ready-to-eat salad mixes and the sudden emergence of a little known strain of E. coli bacteria have dramatically increased the risk of food-borne contamination and illness in Canada and the U.S. [More...]
A bone to pick: Agriculture Minister admits to problems in Canada’s meat inspection
Aug 5th, 2010
By Sarah Schmidt, Postmedia News Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz on Thursday acknowledged last week’s massive recall of all Brandt ready-to-eat deli meats exposes gaps in Canada’s meat inspection system. [More...]
No problems found at Brandt meat plant before salmonella outbreak: Inspectors
Aug 5th, 2010
By Sarah Schmidt, Postmedia News Federal meat inspectors didn’t find any problems that needed fixing at a meat-processing plant in the months leading up to last week’s massive recall of Brandt deli meats. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency only identified sanitation issues, deficiencies in the company’s environmental testing program and possible undercooking after public-health officials [...]
