Opposition MPs trying to get government clarity on whether imported food is subject to the same inspection standards as food produced domestically did not get too far.
Their questions at the House of Commons agriculture committee came after Canadian Food Inspection Agency associate vice-president Paul Mayers told the committee in February that imports are treated the same as food produced domestically for the Canadian market or export.
“Let me assure the committee that there is only one set of rules,” he told MPs.
Two days later, the president of the union representing CFIA inspectors said Mayers had “misinformed” the committee.
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Public Service Alliance of Canada agriculture union president Bob Kingston said on average just two percent of imports are inspected while 100 percent of exports are inspected.
“This presents to Canada a ticking biological time bomb that is being ignored.”
Recently, when he appeared again at the agriculture committee on Parliament Hill, Mayers was asked if Kingston’s two percent figure was accurate.
New Democrat agriculture critic Malcolm Allen asked whether CFIA inspectors were present at the border for all imports, or the Canadian Border Services Agency, whose officers have no food inspection training, did the work.
Mayers said his words had been misunderstood. He had not said all imports are inspected but that the “system” that includes CBSA inspectors is there for all imports.
If CBSA officials have a food concern, they refer it to CFIA.
And while all Canadian exports are certified as safe by CFIA, all meat coming into Canada is certified safe in the exporting country.
When Allen pressed him on whether the two percent figure is accurate, he ran out of time.
“What I’m trying to explain is that it’s dependent on risk and commodity,” said the CFIA official before being cut off and asked to provide statistics in writing.
“We’ll overview the import,” Mayers replied.
Two days later, he was back at committee and insisted that the claim of a two percent inspection rate is “simply not correct.”
But he did not specify how much of imported food is inspected.
Import inspection is based on risk so 100 percent of meat imports are subject to “oversight,” said Mayers, and all imports are approved by the food safety system in the country of origin.
Meanwhile, agriculture minister Gerry Ritz told the committee March 12 that the government is spending money to improve border inspection of imported food.
“This fiscal year, to date we’ve had 99 border blitzes and 480 enhanced inspections at the border,” he said.
“That means going beyond just the check that we do. We also use a system now where there’s a lot more inspection done at the point of origin.”
Mayers told MPs that in the fiscal year ending March 31, there were 10 Canadian audits of the food safety system in countries that export to Canada including China, Russia, Peru and the European Union.
