Safe Food-Doing the Right Things Right In Canada

In the aftermath of soul-searching by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Health Canada (HC), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care following the Maple Leaf listeriosis outbreak last year, lessons learned reports were published that provided some insight into factors limiting performance of the food safety system in Canada. However, they provided only a partial view. Broader, but still incomplete perspectives were given by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Agriculture Sub-Committee on Food Safety and the Independent Investigation into Listeriosis by Ms Weatherill. Predictably, the reports from the latter two investigations focused on whether things had been done right. Instead, their focus should have been on whether the right things had been (and are being) done. The most glaring oversight in the Weatherill report was its acceptance of the status quo regarding foodborne illness surveillance.