Over the years, meat processors have been continually improving their food safety systems. Millions of dollars have been invested by companies in upgrading their equipment and reformulating their products to include newly approved antimicrobials and new technology, such as the new high-pressure pasteurization technology and addition of sodium diacetate to ready-to-eat meats and poultry products. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional listeria, salmonella, and E. coli testing, and countless more hours by sanitation management and quality control personnel have been invested. However, the lessons learned from the listeria outbreak of the summer of 2008 indicate that more needs to be invested in food safety technologies.
Our third recommendation is that Canada should create a new food safety tax credit based on eligible expenses for Canada's food processing industry for a safer food supply for Canadians. Many new processing technologies, packaging, and testing equipment are available to improve food safety. Like the very popular home renovation tax credit, a time-limited federal food safety tax credit would provide a simple, uniform, national financial incentive for food processors of all sizes in commodity sectors in all regions of the country. It would reduce the cost of food safety investments without constraining the choice of technologies or services, without regard to jurisdiction having regulatory responsibility for the plant, and without the limiting and bureaucratic features of grant programs.
The expected federal cost for that would be $170 million per year.
Thank you for your time. We would be pleased to answer any questions.