Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members.
As noted, I will have to leave at 4:45 p.m. However, Dr. Brian Evans, who is the executive vice-president of the CFIA, and other senior officials are here to answer the committee's questions as long as you would like to have them here.
I have a few brief remarks. I want to read into the record a few of the activities that the CFIA has been undertaking.
We have taken immediate action to investigate the circumstances of the outbreak and find ways to improve our food safety system to reduce the likelihood that similar tragedies will happen.
Our activities have included tightened and improved food safety controls in federally registered plants that produce ready-to-eat meat products. The enhanced requirements focus on early detection, reporting, and the control of listeria risks by both government and industry.
Ready-to-eat meat plant operators are now required to conduct more rigorous mandatory listeria testing and immediately report any positive findings to the CFIA.
We are verifying the effectiveness that plant operators take to respond to positive listeria findings, plus reinforcing and strengthening our verification of industry control measures through a program of environmental and end-product testing. To support this initiative, the CFIA is training its staff to implement these new directives effectively and consistently.
We are also ensuring that listeria controls in imported ready-to-eat meat products are equivalent to the new Canadian directives.
The agency has also convened an academic advisory panel to provide expert advice on a variety of topics. One of the first key tasks of the panel was to review and comment on the new listeria directives.
We have also increased laboratory capacity and research into the development and validation of rapid test methods, and there is ongoing work to increase capacity to conduct genetic fingerprinting.
In terms of more recent actions taken, both the Weatherill report and the report of the Food Safety Subcommittee put special focus on greater collaboration between all of the players in food safety.
The CFIA is working to improve collaboration with other jurisdictions, as evidenced by the work that is underway with the provinces to refine the Foodborne Ilness Outbreak Response Protocol, to make it more effective. To exercise our ability to work more tightly with other food safety partners, five mock FPT food safety exercises have been conducted.
A federal/provincial/territorial food safety committee has been established which will developed action plans in three key areas: enhanced surveillance, pathogen reduction in meat and poultry and a common national meat hygiene standard.
The CFIA Meat Hygiene Manuals have been updated and are now being prepared for publication.
With the understanding that industry is a key player in the food safety system in Canada, the CFIA is working with an industry working group on Industry Best Practices for control of Listeria monocytogenes. The target date for this group to report is fall 2009.
Canada has further formalized working relationships with the US Food and Drug Administration to both share information on food safety investigations and recalls and to collaborate on food safety initiatives of joint interest, such as risk profiling and fresh fruit and vegetable safety.
In addition, we have entered into an agreement on the sharing of training materials to ensure a consistent approach to best practices.
Mr. Chair, the CFIA acted to address the food safety concerns of Canadians. Much good work has already been done, yet we would be the first to acknowledge that more remains to be done. We will continue to work with our food safety partners to review and consider the reports of the subcommittee and of the independent investigator. These reports have guided and will continue to guide our future activities in these areas.