CFIA switches policy on naming food-safety rule breakers

Thursday, March 17, 2011

by PAT CURRIE

In a switch of policy, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency this week began publishing details of its law-enforcement activities on its website.

While the federal agency used to publish the names of individuals and businesses that had been successfully prosecuted for breaching its rules, it now will name entities involved in CFIA investigations.

The new policy kicked in on March 16 as part of what CFIA senior media relations officer Guy Gravelle termed an "ongoing transparency initiative." It has published this information for the months April 1 to Dec. 31, 2010.

Gravelle explained that the rationale for the change in policy reflected the federal government’s commitment "to providing consumers with information on enforcement action being taken to protect the safety of their food supply, and the animal and plant resource base upon which safe food depends."

He said the agency "is committed to delivering on its mandate in an open and accountable way while continuing to work closely with the Canadian food industry to ensure they have clear guidance on how to achieve compliance."

Timing of the policy switch "is consistent with commitments made in response to an independent investigator’s report into a 2008 listeriosis outbreak — traced to a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto — that infected 57 people, 23 of whom died.

The quarterly website reports will include information on food imports that have been refused entry into Canada; federally registered food establishments whose licenses have been suspended, cancelled or reinstated; and notices of violations with warning and penalties, including identifying repeat offenders of animal transport regulations.

Gravelle said the CFIA previously put information on its website on prosecution bulletins (which provide details when a company is convicted under food safety acts and regulations ) but did not publish information on its enforcement activities.

Gravelle said information now being made public includes the names of companies that are repeat violators of humane transport regulations and which have received notices of violations with penalty — otherwise known as Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs).

"There is a demonstrated public need for this type of disclosure, reinforced by the CFIA's commitment to making more information public on its enforcement activities. This movement towards greater transparency is shared by other federal regulators in Canada and the U.S.," he said.

"Making this information public is a fair, balanced and measured approach to protecting the safety of Canada's food supply and the resources upon which it depends. And, ultimately, it promotes public confidence in the federal government's enforcement actions," he added.

Currently, not all companies that receive notices of violations with warning and penalties are being identified but that will change, Gravelle said.

"This is only the first phase. The CFIA intends to eventually publish the names of all company violators, in a phased approach. As this initiative expands, more enforcement-related information will be published.

"Once a named company has come back into compliance, the CFIA will note this change and will publish the reinstatement date," he said. BF