Ottawa should move fast on food-safety report

The Gazette July 23, 2009

Sheila Weatherill, brought in from the private sector to study last
August's deadly listeriosis outbreak, has produced an admirable report
on the supervision of Canada's food-preparation industry. Her 57
recommendations demand urgent attention.

When she was CEO of Edmonton's much-admired Capital Health Authority,
Weatherill was known for candid efficiency. Sure enough, she has bluntly
cited a "void of leadership" from Ottawa during the outbreak, and a
longer-term pre-crisis "vacuum in senior leadership" at the Public
Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

A perfect food-inspection system is impossible. But the "confusion and
weak decision-making" that led to 22 deaths and 57 serious illnesses
should not have happened.

It takes a disaster, sometimes, to remind everyone that preventive
maintenance, though costly, is vital - in food plants, in highway
overpasses, in concrete-clad buildings, and elsewhere.

In clear and unbureaucratic language, Weatherill calls in her report
(www.agr.gc.ca) for "swift and significant action in ... the culture of
food processing companies, the design of food processing equipment, the
rules and requirements for food safety set out by the federal
government, as well as governments' capacity to manage national food
emergencies."

She found fault, in varying degrees, with every company, agency and
department involved in the origin and management of the crisis.
Weatherill was wary of civil-service union claims that Canadian Food
Inspection Agency inspectors are overworked, but she did not utterly
discount the claim; instead she called on Ottawa to bring in a
third-party assessor to study that question.

Inevitably, many of the Weatherill panel's recommendations are
bureaucratic in nature ("The Office of Food Safety and Recall should
report directly to the office of the president of the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency.") This sort of thing is inevitable when different
agencies and levels of government must interact. But Canadians have
become reasonably adept at rounding off the rough edges of
shared-jurisdiction management; the same should be possible in this
case.

Ultimately, however, a more effective food-safety regime, in prevention
and in quick reaction to crises, depends on the response to Weatherill's
meta-recommendation, that Ottawa " should clearly and emphatically
commit to the safety of food as one of its top priorities."

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, noting that some of the proposed
actions have been taken already, promised to give the others careful
attention. He will have to, because after this terrible warning,
Canadians will demand higher standards.

(c) Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette