August 28, 2008
Minister Ritz Misleads Canadians
Ottawa – Assurances by Minister Ritz that Canada's food processing industry is adequately supervised by government inspectors are misleading and dishonest, says Bob Kingston, President of the Agriculture Union – PSAC.
Processed meats sold in Canada do not require the same level of hands-on oversight by government inspectors as products for export to the US market.
“Assurances by the Minister and CFIA officials that inspectors' daily presence and direct oversight of product sampling are required do not apply to processed meats sold in Canada. These higher standards are required for processing plants to have access to US consumers,” said Bob Kingston, President of the Agriculture Union – PSAC, which represents the inspectors.
There is no requirement for daily presence of inspectors in plants that do not export, so Canadians do not enjoy these more stringent standards and inspection procedures.
“Yesterday, the Minister made all kinds of sweeping claims about the safeguards that are in place when it comes to processed meats. He neglected to add that all these safeguards are not available to Canadian consumers. In terms of food safety, it would seem that Canadians are second class citizens as far as CFIA requirements are concerned,” Kingston said.
Kingston, an Inspection Supervisor on leave from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, dismissed the Minister's assertion yesterday that inspectors spend half of their working day ‘on the floor of the plant' as pure fiction.
“The inspector responsible for the Maple Leaf plant is responsible for a total of seven food processing and cold storage facilities, one of which requires his presence several hours a day,” Kingston said. “Inspectors cannot be ‘in place on a daily basis at federally regulated meat establishments' as claimed yesterday by CFIA officials – there simply are not enough hours in the day,” Kingston said.
“Minister Ritz should come clean and stop misleading Canadians on such a critically important issue as food safety, especially in the tragic circumstances we are in,” Kingston said.
For information:
Bob Kingston 613-560-4306
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Date Modified : 2008/11/06
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