Food Safety First » Sheila Weatherill

Immediate action on food safety needs to be taken

Jim Thompson — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:47:54 +0000

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...]

Minister defends food inspection system

Jim Thompson — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:47:30 +0000

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...]

U.S. had to force Canada to beef up meat inspections: union

Jim Thompson — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:41:33 +0000

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...]

Questions raised about gap in food inspection standards

Jim Thompson — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:39:50 +0000

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...]

U.S. regulations forcing more meat inspections in Canada

Jim Thompson — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:33:28 +0000

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...]

Listeriosis cases linked to deli meat

Jim Thompson — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:34:08 +0000

By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service

Ontario’s chief medical officer confirmed Friday a genetic match between listeriosis cases and contaminated deli meat produced at a federally regulated meat plant — the first match since Canada was rocked in the summer of 2008 with a deadly outbreak. [More...]

Video: Chris Olsen on Maple Leaf recall

Jim Thompson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:24:22 +0000

CTV British Columbia

Feeling queasy

Jim Thompson — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:45:00 +0000

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...]

Government gets failing grade on food safety

Jim Thompson — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:34:11 +0000

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]

Food inspection agency hasn’t acted on safety recommendations: report

Jim Thompson — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:25:01 +0000

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]