Days before federal auditor general Michael Ferguson was poised to release a Nov. 26 report on Canadian Food Inspection Agency food recall performance, Health Canada an-nounced tougher food safety rules.
The report was expected to be critical of the agency.
Last month, responsibility for CFIA was transferred from Agriculture Canada to Health Canada.
Last week, health department officials went on the offensive to portray a food safety system being strengthened.
On Nov. 21, health minister Rona Ambrose announced new penalties for companies that violate meat safety rules by withholding negative test results or not making required information available to inspectors.
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In an echo from the XL Foods E. coli outbreak and CFIA criticism of the company for its lack of timely co-operation, fines will be increased for meat companies that withhold information or records needed for investigating disease outbreaks.
“Consumers want a strong and reliable food inspection system on which they can depend to provide safe food,” Ambrose said in a statement. “Introducing these new penalties demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that Canada’s stringent food safety requirements are being followed.”
The previous week, the minister newly in charge of the food safety file announced a new food-borne disease surveillance operation in Calgary near the province’s feedlot and packing area as part of a new framework that stresses promotion of healthy eating, prevention of disease outbreaks and efficient food recall rules when there is a problem.
“It (the Calgary surveillance site) will improve our ability to track food-borne illnesses in Canadians and trace them to their sources whether it is food, water or animals,” said Public Health Agency of Canada deputy chief public health officer Gregory Taylor.
On Nov. 21, senior officials from CFIA, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency held an Ottawa briefing to assert that the move of the agency to Health will give Canada a more robust food safety and inspection system because all branches are now under one minister.
Samuel Godefroy, director general of the Health Canada food directorate, said announcement of a new ‘healthy and safe food’ framework is the result of the shift in responsibility from Agriculture Canada.
“The framework offers us the opportunity to further enhance the collaboration that already existed between the various food safety partners,” he said.
When pressed about the timing of the information blitz on tougher action on food safety and whether it was connected to a critical auditor general report in the works, CFIA vice-president for science and chief food safety officer of Canada Martine Dubuc would not be drawn into the debate.
