Ontario lags in food safety checks; Health units can't keep up

June 18, 2005
The Toronto Star
A1
Robert Cribb

A provincial audit, obtained by the Star, was cited as showing that health officials across most of Ontario are failing to apply minimum inspection standards to restaurants, daycares and nursing homes and are taking a hands-off approach with offenders, raising new concerns about food safety in eateries and public institutions across much of the province.

Dr. Sheela Basrur, Toronto's former medical officer of health who implemented Toronto's DineSafe disclosure system in 2001 and now Ontario's chief medical officer of health, was cited as saying those concerns could soon prompt mandatory provincial disclosure rules mirroring the only one in existence now - in the City of Toronto - requiring posting of inspection records on the Internet and in eatery windows, adding, "Unfortunately, we don't have a fully transparent system across Ontario. Publicly funded services that are designed to protect the health of the public ought to be transparent in order to be accountable."

An Ontario Ministry of Health audit was cited as showing that none of the province's 37 health units meet minimum provincial standards for inspection frequency, and inspections in most regions of the province produce a surprisingly low number of tickets, fines or closures against food establishments.

Meanwhile, Toronto's four-year-old public disclosure system remains unique in Ontario and Canada.

The program, which is popular among diners, gives inspectors authority to place one of three coloured signs in every eatery front window - green for "pass," yellow for "conditional pass" and red for "closed." Details of each inspection are posted on the city's website (www.toronto.ca/health).

Toronto inspectors shut down 35 restaurants last year and issued 318 tickets, 137 summons to court and 46 orders last year. That's the most vigorous food safety enforcement regime in Ontario, according to the ministry audit.

City inspectors also completed 90 per cent of inspectors on "high-risk" food establishments - nursing homes, daycares and full-menu restaurants where food is prepared on site and the risk of food borne illness is considered greatest. Toronto's completion rate, while still below provincial standards, is among the highest in the province.

Sylvanus Thompson, manager of quality assurance for Toronto Public Health, was quoted as saying, "These are very, very good results. We are definitely improving on all fronts."
Toronto Public Health records were cited as showing that Toronto's public disclosure system and aggressive enforcement policy since 2001 has coincided with a 32 per cent drop in reported food borne illnesses.

While experts say such a drop cannot be conclusively attributed to restaurant inspections alone, Gene Long, a Toronto Public Health spokesman, was cited as saying it is a "positive health indicator" that food-borne illness rates are declining thanks to greater public awareness.

Basrur was further cited as saying that Toronto's positive strides around food safety can be attributed to the city's disclosure system, adding, "The DineSafe program has driven a lot of system and policy changes which, I think, have been conducive to food safety. Other municipalities and health units have not yet followed along perhaps because they're waiting for the province to take the lead."

A look at enforcement actions and inspection frequencies among comparably-sized regions reveal a patchwork of policies in Ontario.

York Region took 141 actions against restaurants last year - including 99 tickets and 22 closures - and completed inspections on 87 per cent of high-risk premises.

Inspectors in Ottawa, who monitor a similar number of food establishments, took only 15 legal actions and completed only 42 per cent of high-risk inspections.

Siobhan Kearns, manager of environment and health protection for Ottawa Public Health, who was previously a food safety manager and director in York Region, was cited as saying the two health units are comparable in every way except one - staffing levels, adding, "We have the same number of food premises and half the staff as York. We were not anywhere close to meeting mandatory core programs."

In Halton, inspectors completed only 41 per cent of mandatory inspections of the region's 367 high-risk food establishments.

Maurice Dickhout, manager of environmental health for Halton Region, was cited as saying his unit was short two full-time inspectors last year, adding, "We've never been fully able to fully complete the requirements as the ministry sets them out but we're striving to improve on that."

Most health units outside Toronto are far less proactive when it comes to ticketing, fining or closing restaurants, even on a comparative scale. Many health units initiated fewer than a dozen legal actions against food establishments last year.

The Elgin-St. Thomas Health Unit, for example, completed only four per cent of mandatory inspections of its high-risk food establishments and issued only three tickets last year.

Laura McLachlin, director of health protection for the southwest Ontario health unit, was quoted as saying, "Our biggest issue here is staffing. And in rural Ontario, water is such a huge issue, it's a major time consumer for us."

Some health units have taken steps toward greater public disclosure. The Region of Waterloo Health Unit posts results on a website (www.region.waterloo.on.ca) but not in front entrances. Other units, including Peel, have proposals for a Toronto-style disclosure systems awaiting political approval.