The food we eatCanada's food safety system fails international comparisons

Canada’s food safety system is reactive, lags behind other countries, and investment is needed to ensure it can adequately protect Canadians, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Food-borne illness surveillance is needed to ensure safety from gastrointestinal infections caused by bacteria such as toxigenic E.coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter and Listeria. As there is no national food-borne illness surveillance program in Canada, the estimated eleven million cases of food-borne illness every year are based on surveys of self-reported gastrointestinal illness. More accurate data are needed to execute meaningful intervention.

European Union countries, the United States, and Australia have surveillance systems that allow them to collect information on food vehicles and organisms that cause food-borne illness, something Canada cannot currently do. Canada’s multi-government system with national, provincial, and local governments that share responsibility for health, as well as monitor the safety and quality of food, are key reasons that Canada has a fragmented system with poor focus.

The United States suffers from the same problem, yet does a better (though not perfect) job. “Multijurisdictional fragmentation of both food inspection and food-borne illness surveillance are obstacles to safe food that can be overcome with determination and commitment,” writes Dr. Richard A. Holley from the Department of Food Science at the University of Manitoba.

While Canada does have a single national food inspection authority, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, it shares responsibility for food inspection with provincial and municipal governments.

“The large size of the country, regional differences in population density and availability of infrastructure complicate attempts to implement and administer both food-borne illness surveillance and uniform food inspection programs,” writes the author.

Government must invest to develop a proactively cooperative food-borne illness surveillance system and use the data to establish insightful, uniform, risk- and science-based food safety policy across the country.

-read more in Richard A. Holley, “Smarter Inspection Will Improve Food Safety in Canada,” Canadian Medical Association Journal (January 2010) (doi:10.1503/cmaj.090517) (sub. req.)

Canada’s food safety system is reactive, lags behind other countries, and investment is needed to ensure it can adequately protect Canadians, states an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Food-borne illness surveillance is needed to ensure safety from gastrointestinal infections caused by bacteria such as toxigenic E.coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter and Listeria. As there is no national food-borne illness surveillance program in Canada, the estimated eleven million cases of food-borne illness every year are based on surveys of self-reported gastrointestinal illness. More accurate data are needed to execute meaningful intervention.

European Union countries, the United States, and Australia have surveillance systems that allow them to collect information on food vehicles and organisms that cause food-borne illness, something Canada cannot currently do. Canada’s multi-government system with national, provincial, and local governments that share responsibility for health, as well as monitor the safety and quality of food, are key reasons that Canada has a fragmented system with poor focus.

The United States suffers from the same problem, yet does a better (though not perfect) job. “Multijurisdictional fragmentation of both food inspection and food-borne illness surveillance are obstacles to safe food that can be overcome with determination and commitment,” writes Dr. Richard A. Holley from the Department of Food Science at the University of Manitoba.

While Canada does have a single national food inspection authority, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, it shares responsibility for food inspection with provincial and municipal governments.

“The large size of the country, regional differences in population density and availability of infrastructure complicate attempts to implement and administer both food-borne illness surveillance and uniform food inspection programs,” writes the author.

Government must invest to develop a proactively cooperative food-borne illness surveillance system and use the data to establish insightful, uniform, risk- and science-based food safety policy across the country.

-read more in Richard A. Holley, “Smarter Inspection Will Improve Food Safety in Canada,” Canadian Medical Association Journal (January 2010) (doi:10.1503/cmaj.090517) (sub. req.)