CANADA’S FOOD SAFETY SYSTEM IS BROKEN: ALLEN

CANADA’S FOOD SAFETY SYSTEM IS BROKEN: ALLEN
Tue Jan 26, 2010

WELLAND – Today’s report in the Canadian Medical Association Journal proves that Canadian lives are being put at risk by our inadequate food safety system, says New Democrat Food Safety Critic Malcolm Allen (Welland).

“Canadians deserve to know that the food in their grocery store is safe to eat,” said Allen. “This report shows that the government failed to learn from the 2008 listeriosis crisis, and failed to fix the food safety system that protects Canadian families.”

According to the CMAJ report by food safety and food microbiology Professor Richard Holley, Canada’s inadequate surveillance system means that health officials can only react to outbreaks of food-borne illness, rather than monitoring cases across the country and preventing tragedies before they occur.

Following the 2008 outbreak of listeriosis that killed 22 Canadians, the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Food Safety released a report on the government’s handling of the crisis. The report included recommendations spearheaded by Allen, including enhancing Canada’s national food-borne illness surveillance system, and adding food-borne illnesses to the list of nationally notifiable diseases.

“New Democrat recommendations would have gone a long way to addressing the serious problems identified in this report, but the Conservatives have refused to act,” said Allen. “This government can no longer ignore its responsibility for the health of Canadians.”