During the first 17 months after the new Canadian Food Inspection Agency was formed Sept. 1, 1996, agency inspectors ordered food off Canadian store shelves 240 times.
The incidents ranged from 60 cases of food that could make consumers sick, to potential problems or the presence of suspected but unreported allergens.
Last week, in its first assessment of CFIA food emergency response performance, required annually under law, Health Canada told Canadians the system is working well.
However, Health Canada assessors also recommended that CFIA improve its co-ordination efforts with other jurisdictions including health, its paperwork and its follow-up assessments after a food recall has been made.
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“Every year in Canada, emergencies involving the safety of food products occur,” said the report, published Sept. 1. “We conclude that the agency was, overall, effective in identifying situations in which recalls were necessary, that it assessed the situation and initiated a response in a timely manner and that it implemented management actions which were, for the most part, in accordance with the level of risk.”
It said CFIA staff were diligent in inspection, sampling products and investigating complaints.
Since it was created as an amalgamation of inspection services previously housed in Agriculture Canada, Fisheries and Oceans and Health Canada, the agency has been under close scrutiny and suspicion by some of its critics.
Health advocates have suggested that CFIA should not be in charge of inspecting the food system because it is too closely aligned with the commercial goals of the industry.
CFIA unions have complained that with staff cuts when the new agency was created, the inspection system is stretched too thin and the companies are being given too much authority to inspect their own products.
Even some agricultural lobby groups have worried publicly about funding cuts and the impact they are having on the ability of the agency to do its job, even though they are careful to say consumers should have faith in the system.
Last week’s report, written by Health Canada as a safeguard for those who are suspicious of ties between Agriculture Canada, CFIA and the food industry, will give the credibility of the new agency a boost.
“The agency, for the most part, identified potential food emergencies promptly and investigated them sufficiently to reach a conclusion,” said the Health Canada assessors.
Work not done
However, they said the agency still has some work to do, particularly when the incident involves something more than suspicion of unreported allergens or bacterial contamination.
The CFIA needs a plan to deal with more deliberate attempts to create a food scare. “The role of the food emergency response system in other food safety emergencies such as sabotage or tampering incidents, reported illnesses and man-made or natural disasters needs to be clarified.”
