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Government of Canada Takes Action to Improve Food Safety
By: Marketwire
Sep. 11, 2009 03:00 PM
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 09/11/09 -- The Government of
Canada is making significant investments to strengthen Canada's food
safety system. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Health Minister Leona
Aglukkaq today announced that the Government will invest $75 million in
Canada's food safety system and act on all 57 recommendations made by
Independent Investigator Sheila Weatherill.
"The Government of Canada's highest priority is the safety of
Canadians," said Minister Ritz. "We are making significant investments
to hire more inspectors; update technologies and protocols; and, improve
communication so that Canadians have the information they need to
protect their families."
"Our government continues to be committed to protecting and improving
the health and safety of Canadians," said Minister Aglukkaq. "Nothing
can be more fundamental to the health and safety of our families as the
safety of the foods we serve them, which is why we continue to take the
steps necessary to improve Canada's food safety system and ensure
Canadians have the information they need to protect themselves from
foodborne illnesses."
The new investments being announced today will improve the Government's
ability to prevent, detect and respond to future foodborne illness
outbreaks. Among other improvements, the Government will:
- hire 166 new food safety staff with 70 focusing on ready-to-eat-meat
facilities;
- provide 24/7 availability of health risk assessment teams to improve
support to food safety investigations;
- improve coordination among federal and provincial departments and
agencies;
- improve communications to vulnerable populations before and during a
foodborne illness outbreak;
- improve tracking of potential foodborne illness outbreaks through a
national surveillance system;
- improve detection methods for Listeria monocytogenes and other hazards
in food to reduce testing time and enable more rapid response during
food safety investigations, as well as expanding the Government's
ability to do additional Listeria testing; and
- initiate a third-party audit to make sure Canada's food inspection
system has the right resources dedicated to the right priorities.
This investment builds on the Government's 2008 commitment of $113
million for food safety. Already, the Government has made significant
changes to Canada's Listeria management strategy, including making
environmental testing and reporting mandatory in ready-to-eat meat
plants.
BACKGROUNDER
CANADA INVESTS IN FOOD SAFETY
The Government of Canada is investing $75 million over the next three
years to further improve Canada's ability to PREVENT, DETECT, and
RESPOND to future foodborne illness outbreaks.
We will improve our ability to PREVENT food safety risks by:
- hiring and training an additional 70 ready-to-eat meat inspectors;
- using an independent auditor to conduct a review of what is needed to
ensure the Compliance Verification System (CVS) is as effective as
possible in overseeing the food safety controls applied in meat
processing;
- continuing to support the development, implementation and maintenance
of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems in
federally-registered meat and poultry establishments;
- reviewing policies, programs, manuals, regulations and directives to
ensure they reflect current food safety practices and any changes that
have been required of industry;
- increasing awareness and knowledge among the public, including those
most vulnerable to foodborne illness, about the health risks associated
with unsafe food handling practices and foodborne illness; and
- developing and maintaining a food safety website which will give
Canadians a single source of quick, easy access to food safety
information to help protect their health and that of their families.
We will improve our ability to DETECT foodborne illness risk by
increasing surveillance. This includes:
- implementing a national public health surveillance system to improve
rapid identification and tracking of potential foodborne illness
outbreaks;
- collaborating with provinces and territories to strengthen existing
laboratory networks and making steps towards a national network among
relevant laboratories of food safety partners;
- developing improved detection methods for Listeria monocytogenes and
other microbial hazards in food to reduce testing time and enable more
rapid response during food safety investigations;
- analyzing data and identifying trends in reported illnesses to develop
and monitor early warning indicators; and
- strengthening the diagnostic tools used in our laboratories to support
our ability to trace the origins of food hazards such as Listeria
monocytogenes.
We will improve our ability to RESPOND to foodborne illness emergencies
by:
- providing 24/7 availability of health risk assessment teams to respond
quickly to food safety investigations;
- strengthening the protocol used by the federal, provincial and
territorial governments to respond to foodborne illness outbreaks to
include, among other things, simulation exercises to promote response
readiness at all levels of government;
- formalizing an "Incident Command Structure," which will help all
partners involved in the response to work together under a common
command configuration;
- sharing best practices for management of food recall situations among
provinces, territories, the federal government, and industry; and
- developing communications and marketing materials to support the
delivery of timely information to Canadians.
We will build on past investments in food safety
The investment of $75 million builds on the Government's 2008 commitment
of $113 million for food and consumer safety through the Food and
Consumer Safety Action Plan.
The Government has also undertaken a number of steps to reduce the risk
of future foodborne illness outbreaks occurring. Significant measures
include:
- tightening food safety control in federally-registered plants that
produce ready-to-eat meat products. The enhanced requirements focus on
early detection, reporting, and control of Listeria risks by both
government and industry;
- working with international partners to ensure that Listeria controls
in imported ready-to-eat meat products are equivalent to the new
Canadian directives;
- increasing equipment capacity at Canada's National Microbiology
Laboratory (NML) to improve surge capacity during outbreaks. The NML has
also been conducting research on Listeria to improve understanding of
the bacteria and how it can be controlled; and
- allowing the use of sodium acetate and sodium diacetate as food
preservatives in a number of foods, including ready-to-eat meats. These
food additives can be used by food producers to help control the growth
of harmful bacteria such as Listeria.
We will move forward to continue protecting the health of Canadians
The Government is committed to ongoing review and analysis so that we
can continuously reduce the risks that foodborne illnesses pose to
Canadians. We will do this through an assessment of our resources, an
examination of the governance and management of the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency and the Public Health Agency of Canada, and a move
towards updated legislation and regulations.
Contacts:
Office of the Honourable Gerry Ritz
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister
for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Meagan Murdoch
Press Secretary
613-759-1059
Office of the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq
Minister of Health
Josee Bellemare
613-957-0200
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