Food agency spending cuts called risk to public safety
December 13, 2008
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Robert Cribb
STAFF REPORTER
An internal Canadian Food Inspection Agency memo ordering a hiring and training freeze for inspectors will further compromise Canada's already beleaguered food safety system, says the federal Agriculture Union.
The memo, sent to agency managers, says the federal government wants its departments and agencies to cut back on spending in response to "severe fiscal restraints." The new policy includes an order to "defer, scale down, or cancel all non-essential staffing, training, conferences, hospitality, professional services, travel and overtime."
The CFIA, Canada's food safety watchdog, has been under intense scrutiny since the summer's listeria crisis, which claimed at least 20 lives and sickened hundreds.
"They're simply running out of money to pay people at a time when politicians are talking about keeping this agency well resourced," said Bob Kingston, president of the Agriculture Union.
Monika Mazur, an agency spokesperson, said the memo only applies to "non-essential" costs and will not compromise the country's food safety program. "The freeze is impacting services like staffing unrelated to food safety, conferences, holding teleconferences rather than travelling to meetings."
Throughout the outbreak, which was traced to listeria-tainted meat from a Maple Leaf plant in North York, inspectors and their union representatives told a Star/CBC investigation they were short-staffed.
"If you're ... down to a skeleton crew, there's no way they can be doing the required inspections," Kingston said.
Toronto Star