The Canadian food safety system has been given top grades in a new report from the Conference Board of Canada.
The report, released Nov. 20, compared the food safety systems of 17 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. Canada and Ireland tied for first, with France coming in second.
The United Kingdom, Norway and the United States rounded out the top tier.
The study determined the rankings after looking at how each country’s food safety systems met three major targets: food safety risk assessment, food safety risk management and food safety risk communication.
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Researchers also looked at pesticide use, prevalence of food-borne illness, food recalls, traceability standards, prominence of food allergies and public trust.
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency helped fund the report.
While the 68-page report found that all 17 countries had “very high food safety standards,” Canada and Ireland’s systems exceeded expectations, earning “excellent grades compared to their peers.”
Canada excelled in pesticide use and handling of food allergens, which earned a progressive score. It also secured a “superior” grade for rates of food-borne illness, despite concerns that some outbreaks, notably a recall of gouda cheese in British Columbia and lettuce in Ontario, failed to attract national media attention.
The report also determined Canada employed 3,577 federal field inspectors — more than many other OECD countries.
The finding comes as political posturing over reported cuts to Canada’s food safety system continues in Ottawa.
Opposition members, along with the public service union, have blasted the federal Conservatives over their handling of the file.
The criticism has mounted since CTV reported last April that documents posted to the CFIA’s website suggested the agency was facing $35 million in cuts over the next two years, putting 198 inspectors on the chopping block.
The federal Conservatives have denied the reports, insisting no food inspectors have been cut or risk being cut. The changes are simple part of a larger CFIA realignment.
The ongoing restructuring comes more than a year after part of the agency was quietly transferred from Agriculture Canada oversight to Health Canada.
Few details have been given about the transition, which stunned industry, CFIA employees and political pundits alike.
Auditor general Michael Ferguson has also expressed concerns about the risk of re-contamination after an audit of the agency in November 2013 found the agency’s follow-up practices needed some work. At the time, Ferguson said better documentation and clearer procedure rules were also needed.
The Conference Board of Canada added to that list, raising concerns about Canada’s truncated traceability system.
It found that traceability remains near non-existent for non-animal products such as produce.
“Canada has no national supply chain traceability regulation in place, notably for commodities and products outside animal production,” the report reads.
Traceability is critically important in times of crisis, illness or supply chain mishaps, besides instilling confidence among international traders about the quality and safety of Canadian food.
More and more consumers are demanding to know where their food comes from, and the international marketplace continues to expand. This means that improving Canada’s traceability system should be a priority, if it isn’t one already.
It’s true that both government and industry have been working on the traceability file, as highlighted by several announcements, including one in October when agriculture minister Gerry Ritz promised to create a national livestock database.
However, more work, particularly outside the livestock sector, remains to be done, a point noted in the report. There remains, it reads, a global need to work “toward uniform requirements for electronic identification, database programs, recognized identification standards and auditing schemes.”
At a time of increased global trade, it might be time to fix a somewhat disjointed system. Even with the glowing conference board report, there is always room for improvement.
