The Politics of Food in Canada

One of the sentinel sites part of C-Enternet: Our best bet in food safety.  Two sites exist, Conservative government refuses to fund the other 3.

There is a common misconception that Canada is a leader in the world when it comes to food safety and accountability. The truth however, is unfortunately quite the opposite. Canada rates as the second worse country belonging to the OECD when it comes to pathogens in our food, with only Ireland ranking worse. Those who would presume to protect Canadian citizens are apathetic at best and in the industry's pocket at worst.


Take Maple Leaf foods, one of Canada's largest agribusinesses, in 2008 they were directly responsible for the death of 23 people during the now infamous listeriosis outbreak. Several reports and investigations were commissioned by the government, including the "lessons learned" memorandum, however, four years later the situation has since deteriorated.


C-Enternet an organization founded in 2005 has been touted as the best institution that could prevent another pathogen outbreak, however, C-Enternet is only functioning at 40% capacity requiring funding for the other 60%. When the CBC asked Conservative Health minister Leona Aglukkaq when C-Enternet would receive the balance Aglukkaq stated "There are no "timelines" for getting money for three more sites." Without funding the existing two sites will not be able to adequately function.

The government is certainly not policing the consumer side of things either as highlighted by the CBC's excellent series Market Place. Maple Leaf has for years made false claims about their natural selections line of products that fooled many people including this blogger.


The Canadian supreme court is not on the side of citizens and farmers either who sided with Monsanto Canada in 2004 with a landmark ruling regarding the propagation and use of their GMO crops. 


The status quo is unacceptable, we as a country should at the very least fully fund the institutions put into place to protect us and not allow companies like Maple Leaf to put profits over food safety.

source