The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has worked hard to learn lessons from earlier animal disease outbreaks and to improve its preparedness, says federal auditor general Sheila Fraser.
However, it has more work to do in developing plans to manage future outbreaks of food-and-mouth disease, avian influenza and a host of other emerging animal diseases that could get into Canada, she said in a report to Parliament Oct. 26.
“While the agency has prepared a hazard-specific plan to respond to foot-and-mouth disease, it still has significant work to do to improve its readiness to manage an outbreak of the disease,” the report said.
Still, Fraser generally gave CFIA high marks.
In past reports, she has been highly critical of other areas of agency performance, and the report noted that it faced a flurry of criticism for how it handled the 2004 avian fIu outbreak in British Columbia.
“We are pleased to note that the agency has learned from its past experience and has put a lot of effort into improving its capacity to respond to emergencies,” Fraser told a news conference.
“We encourage it to complete the remaining work it has identified.”
She said CFIA should do a better job of identifying priorities and work plans for managing and controlling an outbreak based on the priority and danger the disease presents.
As well, agency officials should do a better job of keeping track of improvements called for in post-outbreak analyses and then make sure the required improvements are made.
The report noted that lessons-learned reports from the 2004, 2007 and 2009 avian flu outbreaks often identify the same issues that need work. The problem was not fixed the first time.
“This observation points to the need to keep track of important lessons learned more systematically to make sure they are resolved,” said the report. “Otherwise, the agency’s response to an emergency could be affected.”
Fraser also reported that CFIA has improved its employee training and communications between regional offices in its effort to prepare for the next outbreak.
