Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, honourable members, ladies and gentlemen, we appreciate the opportunity to appear before the committee again. As I indicated to the committee at our last appearance, all of us at the CFIA were saddened and disheartened by the food-related illnesses last year, and we do express our sympathy to all those affected.
I would like to make three main points. First, I share the view that has been expressed by many of the witnesses who have appeared before this committee that food safety is a shared responsibility that starts with the stewardship of producers and concludes with an informed consumer. It is not the sole responsibility of any one group or organization.
These various responsibilities are set out in statute. Government is responsible for setting standards for food safety. Specifically, Health Canada is responsible for deciding what constitutes a health risk. The CFIA is responsible for setting strong standards for food production, verifying industry compliance with those standards, and undertaking enforcement actions and recalls when necessary. Food producers are responsible for producing safe food.
Second, I want to emphasize that CFIA employees are professionals and dedicated public servants. CFIA employees worked hard to identify, understand and respond to the factors that contributed to last summer's outbreak.
We took action to reduce the risk of this happening again. We took a hard look at what we could have done better. These efforts are described in the Agency's "Lessons Learned" documents, which have been shared with this committee and the general public.
Finally, I want to emphasize that the agency looks forward to the advice of this committee and that of the independent investigator, Sheila Weatherill, on how improvements can be made to reduce risk and enhance food safety for Canadians.
Thank you. I now turn it over to Dr. Evans.