OTTAWA—A newly released report from the House of Commons agriculture committee is recommending an overhaul of Canada’s food-safety system. The recommendations are a result of last year’s Listeria outbreak connected to Maple Leaf Foods deli meats that led to the deaths of 22 people and the recall of hundreds of products, reported Meatingplace.
Recommendations include:
- Food-safety standards in provincial and federal food plants be harmonized.
- The federal government set up an ongoing review of Canada's food-safety standards to ensure up-to-date food safety and processing technologies, and new scientific evidence be included in all risk assessments.
- Ottawa review the training and resources CFIA inspectors need to "implement, execute and enforce" all food inspection activities, and make the results of the review public.
- Canada work more closely with the United States on food-safety standards.
- The CFIA, in cooperation with the food-safety inspectors union, work to provide "accurate, real-time evaluation" of inspectors' resources.