Please don't misunderstand; I don't think we do a bad job in Canada in terms of food safety. I don't have a problem eating either domestically grown food or food from other countries, too, for that matter.
I think we want to do food inspection in a mature and intelligent fashion in Canada, but historically, the way in which inspection has been done.... It makes it easy, because it's very measurable, that food inspection is done against standards. You're able to calculate compliance.
The things that are easily measured, such as label type size, label information, fill weights, and species identification, are the kinds of things that get addressed first. They're the economic issues. The food safety issues are far more complex. They require training in terms of food safety systems, such as HACCP or the CVS, compliance verification. The inspection takes longer and requires a greater understanding of the systems.
Dr. Usborne was saying how, in his day, he was actually an employee who was training the inspectors. I think the CFIA has developed programs that attempt to address these issues. I don't think it would be too terribly difficult to do a better job than they do in the United States.
Both Ron and I sit on the academic advisory panel for the CFIA. We've asked these kinds of questions--i.e., what training programs have you got going? I sense that there's significant interest in making sure that the new generation of inspectors who are coming online are given the kind of training that goes beyond label compliance and the economic features and that addresses the food safety features that get into the mechanics of manufacturing the food.