In the midst of general industry support and an all-party commitment to support proposed food safety Bill S-11, a senior business voice is warning of damaging unintended consequences.
Keith Mussar, vice-president of the Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters in charge of regulatory affairs, told MPs last week the bill would have serious consequences for Canadian jobs, food manufacturers and consumers unless amended.
The Conservative majority on the House of Commons agriculture committee has shown no willingness to amend the bill. The committee is expected to approve the bill this week and send it back to the Commons for final debate.
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“While the objective of the act to increase food safety is clear, the act as currently written will have severe negative implications for Canadian food manufacturers and Canadian consumers,” he told the committee Nov. 1. “Canadian food manufacturing jobs will be lost, Canadian jobs will be moved to the United States or other foreign countries (and) Canadian food exporters will lose access to foreign markets.”
Mussar offered examples of potentially damaging sections of the bill:
Although many companies import ingredients not allowed in Canada, use them to manufacture products for export and then export them to countries where the ingredients are allowed, the act would prohibit imports of food material not accepted in Canada.
It would close down that export industry, he said. “Multinational companies that have manufacturing plants both in Canada and the United States will have no recourse but to move the manufacture of those products from Canada to the U.S.”
The bill prohibits export of foods that do not meet Canadian regulatory requirements even though they meet importing country standards.
A prohibition on import of food ingredients not compliant with Canadian Food and Drugs Act prohibitions will hurt companies that import spices that are processed to make them Canadian compliant to be used in products.
A rule that requires food exported from Canada to include such Canadian requirements as fortified flour will be damaging be-cause in the huge European Union market, fortified flour is not allowed so the market is inaccessible to those products.
Mussar said amendments to the bill would not undermine its food safety objectives.
