Call for new independent food inspection agency

May 5, 2009, OTTAWA – The federal government should establish an independent food
safety agency reporting directly to Parliament because the Canadian
Food Inspection Agency is failing consumers, a leading food-safety
expert on Monday told parliamentarians probing the listeriosis outbreak.

May 5, 2009, OTTAWA – The federal government should establish an independent food
safety agency reporting directly to Parliament because the Canadian
Food Inspection Agency is failing consumers, a leading food-safety
expert on Monday told parliamentarians probing the listeriosis outbreak.

Sylvain Charlebois, co-author of the 2008 Food Safety Performance
World Ranking and business professor at the University of Regina,
blasted the CFIA's "dual mandate" of protecting the public and
assessing risk within the agri-food industry.

"The CFIA is
inherently hardwired to assess risks and contain threats," Charlebois
told the special hearings, saying a reconfigured CFIA should stick to
working with industry to promote international trade. | READ MORE