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

By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service January 27, 2010 2:03 PM

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.

The midterm report on the agency's response to the special
investigator's recommendations comes after Agriculture Minister Gerry
Ritz committed to implementing each of Sheila Weatherill's 57 proposals.
The government appointed her to probe how meat contaminated with
listeria produced at a Maple Leaf plant in Toronto led to the death of
22 Canadians in the summer of 2008.

Weatherill, who zeroed in on a "vacuum in senior leadership" among
government officials, directed over half of her recommendations on
preventing another outbreak toward CFIA. They included conducting an
audit to determine the number of inspectors required to ensure food
companies comply with food safety requirements and making changes to
CFIA's new meat inspection system, known as the Compliance Verification
System.

"Six months later, the federal government and the CFIA have yet to begin
work on either of these key recommendations. An audit has not even begun
and the CVS remains unevaluated. The inspector shortage is as acute as
ever and we continue to be hobbled by an inspection system that is
deeply flawed," said Bob Kingston, president of the public service's
agriculture union representing meat inspectors.

Weatherill found that the federal inspectors assigned to the
Toronto-based facility "appear to have been stressed," in part because
they were responsible for up to six other facilities at the time while
working with the new inspection system "implemented without a detailed
assessment of the resources available to take on these new tasks" and
"without a detailed business case."

The meat inspectors graded CFIA with an F for these two recommendations,
with an overall midterm grade of D-.

And the only praise in the report card - CFIA implemented Weatherill's
proposal to beef up testing of control measures for listeria in
ready-to-eat meat - is followed by a qualification. "But with no
additional resources, other aspects of food inspection have suffered,"
the report card states.

The report, co-written by Canada's largest consumer group, Option
Consommateurs, also notes that while there have been changes to the
reporting structure at CFIA's office of food safety and recall, its head
still does not report directly to CFIA president Carole Swan as
recommended by Weatherill.

This earned the agency a D for this recommendation.

Kingston blames a lack of political will for the pace of change on food
safety. "CFIA efforts to improve have been hamstrung by the absence of
political will and commitment to improve on the part of the government,"
he said.

Added Option Consommateurs spokeswoman Anu Bose: "Consumer confidence in
food safety has been shaken to the core. The absence of any visible
action six months after the Weatherill report will do nothing to repair
this."

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