Canadian food supply unsafe, CMAJ report says

[Guest guest]

Canadians' food supply unsafe, CMAJ report says. Current food-safety systems are

seen as less proactive than reactive, professor argues. Carly Weeks. From

Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published on Monday, Jan. 25, 2010 7:54PM EST Last

updated on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 10:37AM EST

Canada's food-safety system is broken, despite a massive independent

investigation launched by the federal government in the wake of a deadly

listeriosis outbreak, warns a new analysis in the Canadian Medical Association

Journal.

And Canadian lives continue to be put at risk by an inadequate system, said the

author of the report, Rick Holley, professor of food safety and food

microbiology in the department of food science at the University of Manitoba.

" If politicians want to stand up and say we have the safest food supply in the

world, they've got to come clean and do something to make it that way, because

right now it's certainly not, " Prof. Holley said in an interview.

The federal government launched an independent investigation after a major

outbreak of listeriosis linked to a Maple Leaf Foods plant in 2008 killed 22

Canadians and caused many illnesses. It wrapped up last summer with dozens of

recommendations that the government has pledged to adopt, such as requiring

manufacturers to inform authorities of potential health threats and beefing up

emergency preparedness.

Various government departments have also issued reports on the listeriosis

outbreak, and a Parliamentary committee has studied the issue and issued two

reports.

But the problem is the investigations asked the wrong questions, Prof. Holley

said. Officials looked only at the systems in place and how they could be

improved, instead of examining the foundation of Canada's food-safety system and

asking whether it works.

" They were directed toward determining who was doing things right and we should

have really been asking, `Are we doing the right things?' " Prof. Holley said.

For example, the report from the independent inquiry focused on improvements to

meat plant inspections instead of the need to identify trends in food-borne

illness before an outbreak occurs, Prof. Holley said.

One of the biggest weaknesses Prof. Holley identified is Canada's inadequate

surveillance of food-borne illness. Although the government tracks reported

cases of food- and water-borne illnesses, the data is basically collected in a

large file folder – it's there, but it's difficult to make much sense of it,

Prof. Holley said.

" There is no intelligent compilation of that data into a form that will allow us

to draw conclusions about what kinds of foods are more risky than others and

what organisms are more important, " he said.

It's a key problem because the lack of surveillance means health officials are

always in the position of reacting to an outbreak, rather than identifying

potential problems in advance by monitoring cases that pop up across the

country, Prof. Holley said. The problem is compounded by the fact that each

province is in charge of food surveillance, which has created a fragmented

system.

Sheila Weatherill, who led the government's independent investigation, declined

a request for comment.

However, in an article recently published in the Canadian Food Inspection

Agency's magazine, Liaison, the agency's vice-president said the country is

embarking on a new era in food safety as globalization, an aging population and

rising food allergies, among other issues, create new challenges.

" We must constantly strive to improve our ability to manage risks at all stages

of food production and distribution, prevent problems before they arise, and

respond quickly when problems occur, " wrote . " These are the

expectations that society has of us and they are the expectations that we must

have of ourselves. "

But McBane, national co-ordinator of the Canadian Health Coalition, said

the design of the independent investigation highlights deep flaws in the

government's approach to the issue. The inquiry was conducted almost entirely in

private and seemed to have an extremely narrow, restrictive focus, he said.

" It's giving the public false assurances, " Mr. McBane said.

He said he believes Canada's food-safety system has eroded in the past few years

as services were deregulated and safety officials moved toward reacting rather

than proactively identifying issues.

" I think we've gone down a really dangerous route, " Mr. McBane said. " We've

replaced a culture of safety with a culture of risk. We've replaced proactive

regulation with industrial self-regulation. We've replaced active inspections

with paper inspections. "

Prof. Holley said that countries that have invested in advanced surveillance

systems, such as Denmark, are able to track cases of food-borne illness and the

foods they're associated with, allowing them to approach manufacturers to make

improvements before a full-blown outbreak occurs.

But food surveillance is a complicated science that would require a significant

amount of field work to collect samples from peoples' homes as well as an

expensive new computer system, Prof. Holley said. The government has to be

willing to make the investment needed in order for any real improvements to be

made, he said.

" I don't want them to spend another penny on food safety in Canada until we

figure out what it is that's making us sick so they can manage it properly, "

Prof. Holley said. " Otherwise, it's a big waste of money and we can't afford

that. "

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/canadians-food-supply-unsafe-cmaj-rep\

ort-says/article1443689/