Канаданың тағамдық қауіпсіздік агенттігі және оның қызметі

Government agency

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA; ) is a regulatory agency that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, plants, and animals (FPA) in Canada, thus enhancing the health and well being of Canada's people, environment and economy. The agency is responsible to the Minister of Health. The agency was created in April 1997 by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act for the purpose of consolidating the delivery of all federal food safety, animal health, and plant health regulatory programs in Canada. As such, the CFIA was established by combining and integrating the related inspection services of three separate federal government departments:

Agriculture and Agri Food Canada,
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and
Health Canada.

The agency is part of the larger federal public service. According to the CFIA statement of values, science is the basis for regulatory decisions, though the need to consider other factors is recognized. Through the enforcement of various acts and regulations, the CFIA works to protect Canadians from preventable health risks and provide a fair and effective food, animal and plant regulatory regime that supports competitive domestic and international markets. A CFIA technocrat is appointed to be Canada's delegate on the FAO committee that drafts the Codex Alimentarius, which is a vital component of the WTO framework. The CFIA is also responsible for monitoring pesticide residues in food. Health Canada establishes Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for pesticide residues in all foods. MRLs are supposedly set for each pesticide crop combination.

The Food and Drugs Act does not provide the power to recall food products and all recalls are done on a voluntary basis. However, Section 19 of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act provides authority for the Minister of Agriculture to order a recall, where there are reasonable grounds that the product poses a risk to public, animal or plant health. CFIA rates their recalls in three classifications (see below). Public notification of Class I and sometimes class II recalls are done by the CFIA. Lower risk recalls are listed in a published database on the CFIA web site. Recall classifications are conducted by the Office of Food Safety and Recall based on risk advice from Health Canada. Class I is a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death. Class II is a situation in which the use of, or exposure to, a violative product may cause temporary adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote. Class III is a situation in which the use of, or exposure to, a violative product is not likely to cause any adverse health consequences.

The CFIA Food Inspector Corps. is unionized by the Agriculture Union, which in turn is an affiliate of PSAC. On 11 May 2020, the embedded inspectors at slaughterhouses (as represented by the AU) said that CFIA management is "threatening disciplinary action against employees who refuse to be reassigned to work at COVID 19 infected meat plants", while the intrepid journalist was keen to note that Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland had previously said that "those who feel unsafe won't be forced back to work."

In July 2008, CFIA biologist Luc Pomerleau was fired for disloyalty to the government, because he transmitted to his union a sensitive Treasury Board minutes document, in which President Vic Toews and ministers approved the cuts proposed by the Minister of Health Tony Clement that were to affect the inspection of animal feed mills, the certification of commercial seed, eliminate mandatory label registration of meat and processed products, the Avian Influenza Preparedness Program, and also called for the consolidation of three "import service centres" into one central facility. Pomerleau is no longer able to work for the government because he was deemed "unreliable" and fired for "gross misconduct".

According to the findings of the Independent Investigator that was appointed by the government following the 2008 Listeriosis outbreak, there were 75 confirmed cases of listeriosis and was also the underlying or contributing cause of death for 22 of these individuals. Although most cases were in Ontario, illnesses occurred in seven provinces. The report identified response actions that worked well at the federal and provincial levels and gaps in the system should be corrected. Canadian researcher Sylvain Charlebois published a separate report suggesting that the listeria outbreak forces the agency to accept that food recalls are no longer mainly externally oriented; they are systemic in nature.

In October 2012, Canadian Food Inspection Agency scientist Dr. Klaus Nielsen was arrested, with 17 vials of brucella bacteria, headed to Ottawa airport, en route to China. Nielsen pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Wei Ling Yu, a fellow scientist, and Chinese national, fled from Canada. Both were fired from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

In April 2017, it was reported that nearly a third of food samples in CFIA testing contain glyphosate residues. Glyphosate residues were detected in 29.7% of all food samples, with 1.3% containing residue levels above MRLs. For the grain products tested, 3.9% had residue levels about MRLs. The research focused on:
482 samples of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables. 2,497 samples of grains (barley, buckwheat, and quinoa), beverages, bean, pea, lentil, chickpea and soy products. 209 retail samples of infant foods.