By KIRSTY DUNCAN, CAROLYN BENNETT AND WAYNE EASTER Owen Sound Sun Times
Canadians have been fed a new vocabulary by the federal government: “global synchronized economic downturn,” “recalibration,” and “listeria outbreak.” [More...]
Ottawa Citizen
The federal government continues to have some explaining to do about Canada’s food-safety system. [More...]
By Joanna Smith, Toronto Star
Ridding deli meats of harmful bacteria through pasteurization and other technological advances could help protect consumers while reducing the frequency of inspections, a food scientist says. [More...]
By Christina Spencer, Sun Media
The federal government defended its ready-to-eat meat-inspection system Wednesday after charges that it upholds a higher standard for meats destined for the United States than for foods consumed only in Canada. [More...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
17 March, 2010
Ottawa — Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz’s appearance before the Agriculture Committee this afternoon will be an opportunity for the Minister to set the record straight on inspection of ready-to-eat meats produced for Canadian consumers.
On Monday, the Minister misinformed the House of Commons. He said that plants that make ready-to-eat meat exclusively [...]
By Thomas Walkom, Toronto Star
In theory, everyone likes getting rid of red tape. When federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced earlier this month that the Conservative government would set up a commission to do just that, many Canadians cheered. [More...]
By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz defended Canada’s food-safety system yesterday after internal records surfaced showing the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is scrambling to maintain an increased presence at meat processing plants to adhere to American food-safety standards. [More...]
By Bryn Weese, Toronto Sun
Canadian food inspectors are working overtime to meet American food safety standards, a move their union calls “unsustainable.” [More...]
The Canadian Press
The union representing the country’s food inspectors says Canada increased its meat-plant inspection schedule only after complaints from the United States. [More...]
By Gloria Galloway, Globe and Mail
As investigators probe an unusual number of listeriosis cases in Ontario this year alongside a new tainted-meat recall, food inspectors have raised fresh questions about gaps between Canadian and U.S. food safety regimes. [More...]
By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is scrambling to maintain an increased presence at dozens of large meat-processing plants after auditors from the United States Department of Agriculture found inspections were too infrequent to meet U.S. food-safety standards, newly released internal records show. [More...]
MPs can vote for food safety even during prorogation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ottawa – On behalf of the 11 to 13 million Canadians who are sickened every year by the food they eat, the food inspectors union delivered an electronic “sandwich” to every MP today which contains critical information about the risks Canadians face by eating everyday [...]
Ottawa Citizen Editorial
It has been 18 months since 22 Canadians died after eating tainted meat and, despite government assurances that food safety systems are more effective than ever, consumers ought to be skeptical. [More...]
By Christina Spencer, Parliamentary Bureau SUN News Service
OTTAWA — The union representing federal meat inspectors has given the government a failing grade for moving too slowly to boost food safety since the listeriosis outbreak of 2008 that killed at least 22 people. [More]
By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service
OTTAWA — The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Wednesday received a failing grade from its own meat inspectors for not acting on the “vast majority” of recommendations made six months ago to improve food safety. [More]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ottawa – Inaction on food safety has earned the federal government a failing grade six months after the Prime Minister’s special investigator Sheila Weatherill tabled recommendations on how to prevent a repeat of the Maple Leaf Foods listeriosis outbreak which killed 22 people and sickened many more.
A mid-term report card on the government’s [...]
Minister rules out any compensation for victims’ families
By: Sarah Schmidt and Meagan Fitzpatrick, National Post
A “void in leadership” within the federal government during last summer’s deadly listeriosis outbreak came after company officials and over-worked meat inspectors failed to identify a persistent listeria problem at the Maple Leaf Foods plant, according to a highly critical report [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Inspector shortage compromising food safety
Ottawa – Many of Sheila Weatherill’s recommendations make a constructive and valuable contribution to improving the safety of food in Canada and should be implemented immediately, even though it appears that the CFIA and others in government have either withheld information or misled her, according to the union representing [...]
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 [...]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Ottawa – A new staffing survey shows the critical shortage of inspectors in meat processing plants in Canada continues to make it impossible for federal inspectors to verify industry compliance with safety rules.
“These numbers show an inspectorate staffed far below minimum levels. With individual inspectors being in charge of five facilities on average [...]
By: Sarah Schmidt, The Vancouver Province
OTTAWA — Most Canadians don’t trust the food industry to ensure their products are safe and want the government to be more hands-on in policing food companies, according to national survey.
The survey of 1,001 Canadians, with findings to be released today, determined that only 13.7 per cent put their faith [...]
