TORONTO takes on feds, province, issues own food safety agenda

17.apr.09
barfblog
Doug Powell

I hear from local public health officials all the time, and the ones in
Canada repeatedly say the single food inspection agency -- known
creatively as, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency - sucks.
The provincial regulators also suck.
So after years of taking it, the City of Toronto is once again
trailblazing when it comes to serving the public - those who end up
barfing from bad food - and has come up with its own idea of a food
safety system that serves people.
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/mcb/070/2005/00000107/00000003/art00002
Robert Cribb of the Toronto Star reports this morning that in a series
of three reports to be presented to Toronto city council on Monday
(available at http://www.toronto.ca/health/moh/foodsecurity.htm),
foodborne illness in Toronto is rampant and that in order to have fewer
people barfing:
http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/619941
* Ontario should consider compensating food handlers who are too sick to
come to work due to "gastrointestinal illness;"
* Ontario and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency should provide "full
and timely disclosure of the food safety performance of all food
premises 
they inspect;" and, 
* mandatory food handler training and certification, as recommended in
the Justice Haines report of 2004 (that was my contribution).
http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/about/pubs/meatinspectionreport/
A related story maintains that cases of foodborne illness began to fall
almost immediately after Toronto began making restaurant inspection
results public in 2001.
http://www.healthzone.ca/health/article/619906
John Filion, chair of the city's board of health, said it is the
clearest evidence yet of the public health benefits of transparency.
Good for Toronto, especially when the feds and the province leave the
locals out to dry on outbreaks of foodborne illness. In the Aug. 2008
outbreak of listeria linked to Maple Leaf deli meats, Toronto health
types said they had plenty of evidence something was amiss in July, but
CFIA and others refused to go public until Aug. 17, 2008. So with a
federal listeria inquiry set to begin Monday, and Maple Leaf all focused
on federal regulations, how are Maple Leaf executives going to handle
pesky local health units like Toronto - the ones who actually do the
work, uncover outbreaks and create their own headlines.
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/2008/10/articles/listeria-1/more-of-the-same-from-maple-leaf-cfia/