CANADA: Food safety subject to agency power

23.jul.09
Calgary Herald
Will Verboven

Consumers and the Canadian food production system have been well-served
by the Report of the Independent Investigator Sheila Weatherill into the
2008 Listeriosis Outbreak at Maple Leaf Foods. Her report tactfully
spreads around the blame for the way the outbreak occurred and how it
was handled by industry and government.
No doubt that was to the dismay of federal opposition parties and their
union friends who were desperately trying to link the outbreak to some
Conservative government policy or cutbacks.
Contrary to what union politicians insisted, this outbreak never had
anything to do with more food inspectors (which is the union's only
interest) in meat processing facilities. Clearly, a hundred more
government inspectors in the Maple Leaf food plant would not have
prevented the outbreak, being that it was a hidden mechanical problem.
Plant operators usually do their best to avoid health issues, as it is
not in their interest to kill their customers.
What the report stated is that once bacterial contamination problems are
identified, there has to be a more robust process in place to deal with
the matter in a timely matter.
That has to do not just with the plant operator, but with the government
agencies that oversee the inspection process--but therein lies the
problem.
The study is forthright in identifying the competing bureaucratic
control interests of two powerful government agencies, the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Public Health Agency.
What's interesting about agencies that jockey for power is not just how
they can throw their weight around, but how at times they may just stand
by to make a point. Its just part of the bureaucratic mentality.