Federal agencies provided poor leadership during last year’s deadly listeriosis incident, making the crisis worse, a senior Ontario health official has said.
Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, issued a damning report April 17, three days before parliamentary hearings into the crisis opened on Parliament Hill.
He said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency was at times unco-operative with local public health officials and provided poor co-ordination and inadequate communications. Meanwhile, the Public Health Agency of Canada’s chief public health officer did not have a clear mandate to take charge of a situation complicated by the involvement of several federal departments and agencies and provincial and local officials.
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“The lack of co-ordination contributed to public confusion and created the impression that the outbreak was not being well managed, which affected public trust and confidence in the public health system,” Williams wrote.
In the absence of a coherent federal communications plan, Maple Leaf Foods, where the tainted meat products originated, became the main communicator.
“There was no clear public spokesperson for the outbreak-recall,” he said, so the company filled the gap.
“In Ontario’s view, it would have been more appropriate to have a government spokesperson take the lead in communicating with the media and the public. Having a government spokesperson would help ensure appropriate health messages are communicated to the public.”
The Liberals immediately jumped on the Williams report as proof that the federal Conservative government and agriculture minister Gerry Ritz mishandled the file. By the time the crisis ended, at least 21 people had died.
“This report is damning evidence of the Harper government’s incompetence and failure to protect the health and safety of Canadians,” Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter said.
“The findings point to their failure to properly manage this outbreak, putting lives at risk. The Harper government has some serious explaining to do.”
He said Harper should have fired Ritz rather than reappointing him to cabinet after the 2008 election.
Williams noted that while provincial public health authorities were leading the investigation, the Maple Leaf plant was regulated and inspected by the CFIA.
“Because the local and provincial public health officials were not directly involved in inspecting the plant, it was difficult for them to obtain information about its production processes and the extent to which contaminated products had been distributed across the province,” he wrote.
He noted that Toronto public health inspectors asked to join the CFIA inspection effort and were initially rebuffed.
“They were not able to enter the plant until almost three weeks after CFIA first identified Maple Leaf Foods as the manufacturer of the food that tested positive for listeria. These types of restrictions make it difficult for public health authorities to do their job.”
Williams said CFIA never ordered a mandatory product recall.
Maple Leaf announced a voluntary recall that kept expanding as evidence came in of the extent of the contamination. The expanding list and apparent uncertainty over what was affected “contributed to the public’s sense of unease and confusion.”
Williams argued that improved co-ordination and clear lines of authority and communication are needed because such outbreaks will happen again and the concentration of the industry and wide distribution of products means contaminated products can travel quickly and affect people in many jurisdictions.
The Maple Leaf plant produced more than 200 products sold under many brand names.
Before the crisis was brought under control, listeriosis cases were confirmed in seven provinces.
