XPost: can.politics, van.general   
   From: gregcarrsober@gmail.com   
      
   Inspectors' union raises alarm on Canada's food safety system   
      
   Tamsyn Burgmann, The Canadian Press   
   Published Tuesday, April 22, 2014 8:16PM EDT   
   Last Updated Wednesday, April 23, 2014 6:14AM EDT   
   VANCOUVER -- Canada's food safety system is being pushed beyond its   
   limits, warns the union representing federal food inspectors, which   
   singles out Vancouver area-consumers as potentially the most at risk.   
   Some $35 million and 192 inspectors are on the food safety program's   
   chopping block over the next two years, according to online documents   
   posted by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.   
   The agency has also disbanded a team of inspectors dedicated to   
   protecting consumers from food fraud throughout Metro Vancouver. The   
   Consumer Protection Unit once boasted 11 inspectors, but that number   
   dwindled to four due to attrition.   
      
   CFIA seeks power to fine rule-breaking meat plants   
   B.C.'s Lower Mainland is now the only major metropolitan centre in the   
   country without specialized surveillance, said the Public Service   
   Alliance of Canada.   
   Having spoken to people within the CFIA and combed through the agency's   
   internal documents, union officials say they've identified potential   
   staffing and inspection weaknesses where health, financial and religious   
   hazards could crop up.   
   "They're all overworked. There's not a manager in the agency right now   
   who will tell you that they have enough resources to fully deliver what   
   they're legally required to deliver," Bob Kingston, president of the   
   agriculture union with PSAC, told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday.   
   "These legal requirements for the agency to still be looking at these   
   products and to be actually worried about consumer protection have not   
   gone away. The laws are still in place, the regulations are still in   
   place. They've just stopped doing them."   
   Kingston said residents in the Vancouver region have become "guinea   
   pigs" for the government as he laid out specific areas of concern the   
   union spotted in the agency's 2014 internal work plan:   
   Compared with 2013, there will be 60 per cent fewer ground meat   
   inspections. The union says this means companies might be more apt to   
   mix in other meats, like pork, or substitute other filler.   
   There will be no cooking oil inspections. The union says oil can also be   
   adulterated.   
   The quantity of inspections for independent food retailers will be cut   
   in half.   
   Routine menu checks, such as for product substitution and short   
   measuring, won't occur.   
   Inspectors will no longer check that grocers are storing food at the   
   safe temperature.   
   The federal health ministry referred questions to the CFIA, which   
   responded to the union's claims with a broad email.   
   "The statements by the union are false. There have been no cuts to food   
   safety. Canada has one of the safest and healthiest food systems in the   
   world," it said.   
   The agency acknowledged there have been recent changes to how it handles   
   the Vancouver area.   
   "In order to maximize food safety oversight, the CFIA recently   
   implemented a realignment of staff," the statement said. "During this   
   exercise, no jobs were cut and there has been no change in the number of   
   inspectors on the ground in British Columbia."   
   Two consumer protection inspectors remain stationed in each of Victoria   
   and Kelowna, B.C.   
   The federal government's extract states an "additional" $390 million   
   will be invested over five years to "strengthen Canada's food safety   
   system." It says part of the money will fund more than "200 additional   
   inspectors and other staff," along with establishing a national   
   information system meant to help authorities quickly detect and respond   
   to food safety risks. It will also pay for the continuation of a program   
   combating mad cow disease.   
   Kingston called the government's assertions over how it is distributing   
   money a "smokescreen," alleging no new money is actually being put up.   
   Whether consumers could face real health risks will be tough to   
   determine, he added, noting there is no federal tracking system for   
   food-borne illnesses.   
   The union has been pushing the agency to complete a "resource audit" in   
   order to determine whether it is understaffed and then show the results   
   to the government.   
   Food safety has had a high profile in Canada in the last few years. In   
   2008, a deadly listeriosis outbreak was linked to a Maple Leaf Foods   
   plant in Toronto. Another meat-processor was implicated in widespread   
   illness in 2012, when the Alberta-based XL Foods Inc. conducted a   
   massive beef recall due to cleanliness problems at its plant.   
      
      
   Read more:   
   http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/inspectors-union-raises-alarm-on-ca   
   ada-s-food-safety-system-1.1787857#ixzz2ziAUKlQk   
   --   
   *Read and obey the Bible*   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)