Thank you for the question.
Frankly, I want just to go back to pet food, because it's a case in point that points in the direction of imports coming from other countries, even if it's pet-related. When we were made aware of that situation by our U.S. colleagues, we just spoke about the regulatory structure not being present, but we were very alert in case the wheat gluten in question that was contaminated by melamine might have found its way into the human food supply. So we were, essentially, very much up to speed as to what was happening.
We have a border lookout. The terminology implies that any wheat gluten coming from China is stopped at the border, and essentially we hold and test it to make sure there's not a presence of melamine. So we did that.
As this thing progressed, we moved from that level specific to wheat gluten, which was the original story, and we kicked it up as we heard about rice gluten, and then we heard about a corn gluten issue in South Africa, if I remember. So we went from wheat to a lookout with the CBSA on corn, rice, wheat--obviously--and soy, if I remember, just to make sure that the basket was as broad as possible, again working in tandem with the U.S.
More recently, we've kicked that up further to vegetable protein concentrate, which can have more than gluten. Essentially what we've done is a lookout, hold, and test. Not only have we looked now at melamine as a potential contaminant, we have a broader suite of tests carried out on those inputs--that's what I call them. So that's what we've done.
Now, about your question more specifically, as you may imagine, in the organization and in the United States, probably worldwide, people are watching and they're asking, “How do we wrap our minds around this?” In CFIA we're going to be creating a relocation of resources to take a broader approach to looking at where major sources of inputs or foods are coming from other countries. We always take a risk-based approach.
We're going to give, for the larger volumes and the higher risk, and we're going to do some tests, essentially. We are doing that in our run-of-the-mill operation. We work through a number of projects for inputs or imports that we're getting from other countries, but now we're going to go to a higher level, with more effort, to carry out that sampling. Obviously inputs coming from China are an example, but it can be other countries as well.
Again, it's not necessarily about one country. It's about where is the largest source of food supply coming into the country, and taking what I would call a country profile, based on risk, volume, and potential pathways and inclusion into our food supply in Canada. So that's the approach we're taking.
Frankly, this action plan that I'm talking to you about is something that we're fleshing out as we speak. That's what we're doing right now. This issue is being looked into in a very serious fashion.
