Ontario defers to Feds on egg safety

Thursday, February 16, 2012

by BETTER FARMING STAF

The chair of the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission says it’s up to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to investigate claims of food safety problems in connection with the activities of Ontario’s top egg graders.

In a January letter to egg industry whistleblower Norm Bourdeau, marketing commission chair Geri Kamenz notes that the federal agency has authority “over egg grading matters as well as general food safety issues.”

Bourdeau, an information technology specialist who lives in London, made a submission to the marketing commission in December 2010 that alleged his former employer, Strathroy egg grader L.H. Gray & Son: illegally included about $150 million worth of cracked eggs into Grade A packages sold to retail, institutional and food service sectors – an activity he alleges was condoned by the Egg Farmers of Ontario, the provincial egg marketing organization; made false reports to Egg Farmers; and shared the proceeds of “fraudulent profit” with producers, including some with ties to the marketing organization’s board and administration.

“On matters of food safety they (CFIA) do have jurisdiction,” Kamenz explained in a recent interview. “And we are always as any regulatory body within the government, very very concerned about anything relating to food safety so we have flipped that over to the appropriate authority who has the mandate to take whatever actions are necessary and leave it with them.”

In the letter, Kamenz notes the marketing commission contacted senior staff in the federal agency to make sure they are aware of materials that Bourdeau had sent and his concerns. Noting the allegations and concerns are the subject of legal disputes in Ontario courts, Kamenz concludes that the marketing commission’s “ongoing review of your request continues to include consideration of how the common and related issues are evolving in the court proceedings.”

Those proceedings include civil actions before the Ontario Superior Courts of Justice in London, Oshawa and Toronto as well as a contempt of court appeal before the Court of Appeal for Ontario in Toronto. All claims have yet to be proven in court and all of those named vigorously deny the allegations, including those Bourdeau made in his submission to the marketing commission.

Lisa Gauthier, Canadian Food Inspection Agency spokesperson, confirms in a an email that the agency has received information “pertaining to L.H. Gray egg grading facility.” The agency would not disclose any specific action that it “may or may not take as this information may constitute confidential third-party information,” she writes. BF