Don’t Bring This Baggage Home

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is urging travellers to be mindful of the role they play in keeping Canada free of serious foreign animal diseases. “Travellers should be extra vigilant at the border in light of recent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in Asia, classical swine fever in Europe, and African swine fever in Russia. While

Universities Flunking On Food Safety

The remarkable success in controlling many foodborne diseases must be considered one of the great achievements of public health in the past century. Due largely to public health laws, food regulatory agencies and continuous improvement by the food industry, we have almost eradicated human disease and death from many foodborne diseases such as scarlet fever,


Food Safety Chief Defends Inspection System

Charges that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency isn’t doing an adequate job of inspecting of imported foods are wrong, according to Canada’s chief food safety officer. “The CFIA’s priority is protecting Canadians from unsafe food regardless of where the food is grown or produced,” Brian Evans said in a statement. “With the help of the

Cfia Gets New President

George Da Pont, a seasoned federal bureaucrat, has been named president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. He replaces Carol Swan who has retired. Da Pont became executive vice-president of the agency a year ago with the expectation that he would move into the top job eventually. With CFIA under repeated attack by its main


Beware Of Invisible Summertime “Bugs”

When we think about summer pests, we often think of mosquitoes, flies and ants. These bugs certainly are annoyances at outdoor picnics and camping. Even worse – sometimes bugs can spread disease. However, in the summertime, the “bugs” we can’t see can have worse consequences than the ones we can manage with repellents. Bacteria, which

Will The New Recipe Work?

On Feb. 4, Prime Minister Harper and U.S. President Obama created a U.S.-Canada Regulatory Co-operation Council (RCC) with a mandate to reduce regulatory red tape at the border. The leaders pledged to remove barriers to the trade of goods between the two countries, with specific reference to food. Food and agricultural products were highlighted because


China Urges Tougher Punishments For Food Safety Crimes

China’s courts have been ordered to increase the severity of punishments for food safety crimes, including capital punishment for cases that lead to fatalities, Xinhua news agency reported. The court’s directive appeared to be the latest move to regain public confidence after a series of food safety scandals, including the most serious recent case in

Food Fortification: Still Looking For The Sweet Spot

Canada has one of the most restrictive discretionary food fortification laws in the western world. Health Canada officials spent the last 15 years trying to develop a comprehensive new policy to allow food companies greater scope for adding vitamins and minerals to their food products. But last year the health minister stopped the proposed new


Feds Looking To Boost Small Meat Plants

Winnipeg Old Country Sausage is among 12 Canadian meat plants that may get help achieving federal- inspection status in a bid to create opportunities for livestock producers. Ontario, Saskatchewan and Quebec both have three plants under consideration while P.E.I. and Alberta have one each. Federal and provincial agriculture ministers want to encourage provincially inspected plants

“B

readbasket of the World Under Siege” blared the headline on an opening slide in Dilantha Fernando’s PowerPoint presentation. It was a dramatic way to start a workshop on fusarium head blight. But was it exaggerated? “It all depends on which year we are talking about,” said Fernando, a University of Manitoba plant pathologist. It was