The president of Canada’s food processor lobby argued last week that Canada should strengthen controls over food imports, increase border inspections and step up spot checking in Canadian stores because imports are more likely to be unsafe and less likely to be inspected.
Christopher Kyte, president of the Food Processors of Canada, said recall statistics indicate that imported food is far more likely to be recalled for safety reasons.
“Canadian food is very safe,” he told MPs on the House of Commons agriculture committee April 17. “The system works very well.”
Read Also
Final crop reports show strong yields, quality
Crops yielded above average across the Prairies this year, and quality is generally average to above-average.
Out of $110 billion worth of domestically produced and processed food, there were 151 product recalls last year, he said. Out of $21 billion worth of imports, there were 95 recalls.
“So if imports were the same level as what we produce domestically, we’d have 853 recalls,” he said. “That says something.”
Kyte praised a recent government announcement that there will be more food safety inspections, including licensing food importers, under proposed amendments to the Food and Drugs Act to be debated in Parliament next week.
But he said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has a resource problem.
“We’ve had a lot of discussions for many years with the agency and I think they recognize that they would like to put more controls at the border because that’s really where you should be stopping illegal and mislabelled imports,” he said. “Unfortunately, they just don’t have the resources but we should be looking at new tools.”
Coincidently, Liberal MP Wayne Easter brought to the committee samples of pork that he had purchased in Ottawa supermarkets that were promoting pork. While all three packages contained American pork, one did not indicate country of origin.
“I think consumers need to be given the opportunity to buy Canadian product and be assured they are buying Canadian product and that labelling by quite a few stores is, I think, hurting producers,” Easter said.
He said the package should have made clear it is American product and its presence could be a violation of the Meat Inspection Act.
Kyte said Canada should increase its vigilance over imported food.
“If you’re making something, if you’ve got a plant in this country, you’re registered with the CFIA and they can hold you accountable for your mistakes,” he said. “But you’ve got importers that can import time and time again mislabelled product, illegal product and never be held accountable. There’s no mechanism.”
