Self-regulation by Food Companies

I thought some of you foodies might be interested in excerpts of an article on food safety and self-regulation. It was written by Terry Pugh, published in the CCPA Monitor for April 2009...

"The listeriosis crisis that claimed the lives of at least 20 Caadians last summer and fall could have bee prevented, according to the President of the Agriculture Union, a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

Bob Kingston told the annual convention of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) that the deregulation of feed safety inspections jeopardizes the health of Canadians.

Kingston said that, prior to the listeriosis outbreak, a Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) employee was fired for letting his union see a confidential letter that was sent by the federal Treasury Board to the CFIA.

'This letter outline future Harper government plans to cut back on inspections in slaughter facilities' he said. 'They were proposing to shift fulltime meat inspection to just an oversight role.'

Kingston said the changes to the inspection system were brought in after much lobbying by the food industry to reduce government monitoring.

'When the HAACP quality management systems were introduced in meat processing plants, the large companies such as Maple Leaf argued that having these programs in place should mean less inspection, because they were now in a position to ensure compliance with health requirements on their own.

Kingston said the inspection system is 'overburdened' because inspectors have too much paperwork and too many facilities to cover to enable them to do effective inspections.

'In the old days, the inspectors would have slowed down a production line until the problem was fixed. They would have had a chat with the foreman and they would have corrected the problem before they even left the plant. But that doesn't happen any more. Instead of their conducting regular pre-operation or sanitation inspections, the plant employees now do these inspections themselves, with the CFIA inspectors reading about it when they get the time.'

Under the old system, Kingston added, processing plants were automatically required to report positive listeria finds to the inspector in charge, but under the new system that is no longer a requirement.

Some observers still believe there is nothing wrong with food companies regulating themselves, given that it is so obviously in a company's best interests not to make their customers giet sick or die. But Kingston said it is naive to think the profit motive alone will guarantee safe food.

'Any inspector who has been around for a while can tell many stories that disprve that theory,' he said. 'If the profit motive caused business people to act in their best long-term interests, we wouldn't have a worldwide banking crisis right now.