Food can sometimes be hazardous to your health, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s website.
The latest voluntary recall was issued in January, warning consumers about peanuts in chocolate chip cookies produced and sold in British Columbia.
Food allergies affect as many as six percent of young children and three to four percent of adults.
Severe allergic reactions occur when the body’s immune system reacts to a particular allergenic protein or irritant, such as food, insect stings and medications.
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Despite ongoing inspections and testing by companies and the CFIA, consumer complaints lead the way in revealing food anomalies.
“Often a consumer complaint will start something off. They’ll (CFIA) look into it and often the company will decide to do a voluntary recall just in case there’s more of it,” said Lisa Gauthier of the CFIA.
Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers’ Association of Canada, said Canadian manufacturers are generally interested in addressing potential issues.
“They don’t want problems themselves but there’s been lots of metal chips, foreign objects, glass and God knows what in everything from canned stuff to stuff in packets. The occasional mouse or rat gets into a milk bottle,” he said.
“At the moment, we can’t match the Americans in consumer protection.… One hopes we will get to the stage of being proactive instead of reactive,” said Cran.
The federal agriculture minister has the power to order a mandatory recall of products that pose a health risk.
“They’re not out there with a magnifying glass inspecting foods. We have a tremendous amount of imported food problems at the moment. A huge proportion of the list is imported from China,” said Cran.
Each month, the agency sends out dozens of food related alerts, such as salmonella in salad, undeclared eggs in doughnuts, peanuts in granola bars, milk in stuffing mixes and toxins in shellfish.
CFIA issued two health hazard and public safety alerts in January and June of 2010 as a result of food tampering in Calgary and Toronto.
In May, a metal pin was reported in garlic bread and glass fragments in espresso. August saw two health hazard alerts with voluntary recalls because two cookie brands may have contained metal.
Each year, the agency investigates about 2,000 consumer food safety complaints and conducts about 3,000 food safety investigations. On average, the agency manages 230 food recalls a year.
Recalls are based on the level of health risk, with Class 1 indicating a high risk, Class 2 moderate and Class 3 low or no risk.
Most recalls in Canada are voluntary and initiated and carried out by the manufacturer, importer, distributor or retailer.
The CFIA helps ensure the effectiveness of the recall.
For more information, visit www.foodsafety.gc.ca/english/fssa/raprece.asp or call 800-442-2342 or 800-465-7735.
