Posts tagged food safety

Carole Swan resigns

Ottawa (June 21, 2011) — Canadian Food Inspection Agency President Carole Swan is stepping down at the end of June, a full year ahead of the end of her appointment.  “We wish Carole well.  She had a tough job to do, made more difficult by chronic under funding, a reality that has prevented the CFIA [...]

Our inspectors can’t stop dangerous food imports

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 [...]

Briefing Note: Has a secret deal scuttled food inspection investment?

Ottawa (June 1, 2011) – Finance Minister Flaherty’s March 22nd budget included an investment to bolster food inspection of $100 million over five years, right? Well, maybe not. According to sources within the CFIA, a secret deal to win mention in the March 2011 budget that will be re-tabled next week may actually result in [...]

Food, beverages imported from Taiwan may contain toxic chemical: CFIA

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

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

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...]

Food safety: the forgotten issue?

By David McKie, CBC.ca In the 2008 election campaign, federal party leaders vowed to make the country’s food safer. [More...]

Canadian bureaucrats shirked ‘duty to assist’ with listeria information request

By Doug Powell, barfblog The 2008 listeria outbreak in Canada caused by Maple Leaf deli meats that killed 23 and sickened 56 was characterized by multiple failures amongst multiple players – primarily Maple Leaf, the Canadian government, and dieticians at assisted-care facilities.  [More...]

CFIA to name food companies, importers that break rules

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...]

B.C. meat plant covers up positive E-coli test

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

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

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...]

Paperwork delays listeriosis lawsuit settlement

Joanna Smith, The Toronto Star It has been nearly two years since Maple Leaf Foods agreed to compensate victims of a deadly nationwide outbreak of listeriosis linked to its deli meats, but not a single cheque has been signed.  [More...]

Critics bite into food safety

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...]

No audit of meat plant inspectors done: Ritz

By Sarah Schmidt, PostMedia News Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz on Thursday conceded the government has not conducted an external audit to determine how many inspectors are needed to police Canada’s meat plants.  [More...]

CFIA deflects food safety criticisms

By Barry Wilson, The Western Producer Senior government officials responsible for food safety and inspection have a message: the system has never been better.  [More...]

Audit finds sanitation problems at some Canadian meat, poultry plants

Allison Jones and Steve Rennie The Canadian Press Canadian Food Inspection Agency documents often painted an inaccurate picture of the conditions at some of Canada’s meat and poultry plants where sanitation problems persisted, an American audit has found.  [More...]

Food safety watchdog still unclear on numbers

By Joanna Smith, The Toronto Star The federal food safety watchdog is still unable to say how many full-time inspectors work in ready-to-eat meat plants more than two years after a deadly nationwide outbreak of listeriosis traced to tainted deli meats.  [More...]

Feds say food system safe, inspectors beg to differ

By Laura Payton, QMi Agency Government experts say Canada’s food system is one of the safest in the world, but the union representing food agency inspectors says that’s not true.  [More...]

Canada still lacking inspectors at meat plants: CFIA

By Sarah Schmidt, PostMedia News The federal government doesn’t have enough inspectors at plants that make ready-to-eat meat to properly police the high-risk operations — and the situation won’t be rectified until next spring, according to internal staffing projections released to Postmedia News.  [More...]

Government spins food safety

Ottawa (November 4, 2010) The federal government has failed to meet some of the most important recommendations for reform of Canada’s food inspection system made in the wake of the Maple Leaf Foods listeriosis disaster, in spite of claims to the contrary, according to the federal food inspectors’ union. The Agriculture Union – PSAC leveled [...]

New internal CFIA documents show meat inspection remains dangerously inadequate

Many of the shortcomings that contributed to the Maple Leaf Foods listeriosis disaster two years ago continue to plague the Canadian meat inspection system today, according to a trio of assessments of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s meat hygiene program quietly released last week. The government’s attempt to obscure this conclusion through a quiet release [...]

CFIA still moving on Listeria recommendations

By CBC News The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has made some changes to improve its monitoring of meatpacking plants but many of the recommendations made in the wake of the 2008 listeriosis outbreak that killed 23 people have yet to be implemented.  [More...]

Union says food inspection still falls short two years after listeriosis

By The Canadian Press  The Harper government says it’s making “considerable progress” implementing recommendations to prevent another deadly outbreak of listeriosis, but the union representing food inspectors isn’t buying it.  [More...]

Meat inspection remains dangerously inadequate – Shameful Government spin seeks to hide the facts

Ottawa (22 October, 2010) – Many of the  shortcomings that contributed to the Maple Leaf Foods listeriosis disaster two years ago continue to plague the Canadian meat inspection system today, according to a new assessment of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s meat hygiene program released today. The internal assessment found the number of meat inspectors [...]

How effective is Canada’s meat-inspection system? Insiders say Canada’s meat-inspection system isn’t keeping consumers safe from food-borne illnesses.

By Alex Roslin, Georgia Straight At the end of a gravel road 20 kilometres east of Fort St. John, Arlene Laughren’s house used to be her little piece of heaven. Now it’s like a prison.  [More...]

Listeria detected in 18% of B.C. fish products

CBC News Potentially toxic Listeria bacteria has been found in 18 per cent of ready-to-eat fish products tested in B.C, according to an unreleased study by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.  [More...]

Thought for food

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

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

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.

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

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

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...]

Most Canadians concerned over food safety: Poll

By Laura Stone, Postmedia News A majority of Canadians is concerned with the safety of their food and most say they trust food that comes from Canada more than imported food, results of a poll suggest.  [More...]

Meat packing plant caught fudging ‘best before’ dates

By Joanna Smith, The Toronto Star A Toronto meat packing plant was caught fudging the “best before” dates on packages of ham about a month before it had to recall peppercorn salami when samples tested positive for potentially deadly bacteria.  [More...]

Audit Finds Tainted Meat Reaching Consumers

by Helena Bottemiller Food Safety News Veterinary drugs, pesticides, and heavy metals are making it onto our plates via meat, according to a federal audit released this week.  [More...]

Family’s juice-box ordeal highlights food-industry woes: Expert

By Sarah Schmidt Canwest News Service In Johnny’s mind, it seemed like the obvious thing to do. The boy didn’t want his classmate to get sick, so he walked right over to him, took the juice box and poured the drink down the drain. [More...]