Health Committee on June 10th, 2010

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

Good morning, everyone.

This is meeting 24 of the Standing Committee on Health. We are studying the implementation of the recommendations of the Weatherill report on the 2008 listeriosis outbreak.

Thank you to all the witnesses who are here to work with us today. There will be five-minute presentations. I believe three of the witnesses will be presenting.

We'll be starting with Meena Ballantyne, the assistant deputy minister of the health products and food branch of the Department of Health.

Ms. Ballantyne, it's your turn.

[Meena Ballantyne, Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health]

Madam Chair, if I may, I think it is Dr. Butler-Jones who is going to be leading off the presentation.

Is that okay? That's what we had planned on.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

Sure.

[Dr. David Butler-Jones, Chief Public Health Officer, Public Health Agency of Canada]

Excellent. Merci.

Thank you once again for the opportunity, particularly to update the committee on the government's progress on food safety.

Here with me today from the Public Health Agency of Canada is Dr. Mark Raizenne, the DG of our Centre for Food-borne, Environmental and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases.

This morning I'd like to provide a bit of context just to get started, along with a brief overview of what we've been seeing over the past year and where we are headed.

First, Canada has long had one of the safest food supplies in the world, but as with any area of public health, responsibilities for safe food and safe eating go beyond governments and industry to every one of us. The vast majority of food poisoning occurs at home from unsafe handling or preparation of food, even when the food supply is safe. From the farm to the kitchen, outbreaks can and will happen, as well as from the kitchen to the table.

On top of all this, we know that nature is constantly inventive and always has new surprises for us.

To ensure that we're prepared for all of these threats, we need strong links in every part of the chain, from regulation, inspection, and surveillance to education and safe individual practices. Every step on the farm-to-fork continuum is critical. For the government's part, when a national food safety threat poses a risk to Canadians, as it did in 2008, the health and agriculture departments and agencies at all levels of government must work together closely to respond to that risk.

Today I'll speak to the agency's role specifically. The Public Health Agency of Canada provides support to a province or territory conducting its own outbreak investigation, upon request, but when an outbreak of food-borne illness spreads beyond a province, territory, or country, the Public Health Agency assumes the lead to coordinate the outbreak investigation and the response with its partners. For example, when our national lab in Winnipeg linked listeriosis cases in provinces other than Ontario, where the outbreak started, the agency took the lead in coordinating the national investigation and response.

So, hopefully this provides some context. I'll move on now to a brief surveillance update.

Generally speaking, there are approximately 1,000 cases of E. coli reported each year in Canada. Based on our surveillance data, there has been a decline in the number of these cases. Most of these cases are also isolated and not part of an identified widespread outbreak. In 2009 the agency was involved in the investigation of 50 food-borne illness outbreak issues and it led nine of the investigations. These illness outbreaks implicated multiple provinces, or were international in scope.

So far in 2010, there have been a total of 12 investigations, and the agency has led three of these. All outbreaks are complex events involving a variety of players. Fortunately, they do not always result in the number of deaths that we saw in the listeriosis outbreak in the summer of 2008. But that experience showed us that no matter how much we apply from our past experience, more can be done.

Each event presents new lessons and new, emerging challenges.

While past lessons have led to Canada becoming among the safest food suppliers in the world, we all need to continue to be open to learning as we move forward. In this way, collaboratively, we can become even more efficient in managing new and emerging risks to human health due to food-borne illness.

Following the 2008 outbreak, the government immediately took a number of actions to prevent and reduce those risks, guided further by the Weatherill report in 2009. Working in collaboration with our partners in Health Canada and at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, PHAC continues to work forward on the Weatherill recommendations and is making progress. The most senior levels of the responsible government partners are collaborating to address improvements to Canada's food safety system.

With regard to governance structure, the Clerk of the Privy Council gave Deputy Minister Knubley of Agriculture Canada the responsibility to chair a committee of deputy heads in 2009. Part of this work includes an oversight role in the coordination of actions by CFIA, Health Canada, and PHAC in relation to the Weatherill recommendations. I'm a member of this committee and am pleased to report that we've been meeting regularly for the last six months. The committee is supported by ADM- and DG-level committees as well as a full-time secretariat at Agriculture Canada.

The food-borne illness outbreak response protocol guides federal, provincial, and territorial collaboration in response to outbreaks. This key technical and operational protocol has been extensively revised in consultation with implicated government players, including the Public Health Agency, Health Canada, CFIA at the federal level,

and all provincial and territorial health and agriculture ministers.

The protocol has been endorsed by chief medical officers of health and by provincial and territorial deputies. The agency recently led a federal, provincial, and territorial review of the FIORP. This review has resulted in updated and clarified roles for responsibilities and collaborative processes and the articulation of clear guidelines for all involved during a food-related outbreak. FIORP 2010 will allow public health and food safety authorities across Canada to respond faster, more efficiently, and more effectively.

Along with the modernization of the protocol, the agency has been making progress on a number of other fronts.

Two major executive appointments have been made within the agency--namely, it now, as you know, has an associate deputy minister and an assistant deputy minister for emergency preparedness and response in corporate services. These appointments increase the agency capacity for flexible and timely response. We're working with provincial and territorial partners on a national public health surveillance tool called Panorama to improve our surveillance in early detection of outbreaks. We've expanded our participation in PulseNet, a national network of laboratories linking federal and provincial labs. PulseNet fingerprints bacterial samples from humans and food, facilitates coordination between food and clinical labs, and improves our ability to detect and respond to contaminated food products.

The agency is developing a comprehensive risk communication strategy to guide how it communicates to Canadians during a national outbreak, and we're also currently pilot-testing a model for rapid-response surge capacity. This will mobilize public health experts during food-borne outbreaks. All of this progress has been made possible by the allocation of approximately $18 million to the agency as its share of the government's three-year $75-million investment.

These initiatives address the recommendations of the Weatherill report as well as the concerns of the federal Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. They highlight what the agency has been doing, although, as I say, we're only one part of a very large network of partners responding together when an outbreak occurs.

I'd be pleased to answer your questions. Merci.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

Thank you very much, Dr. Butler-Jones.

Ms. Ballantyne.

[Meena Ballantyne]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Honourable members, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today about Health Canada's efforts.

Before getting into my remarks, I'd like to introduce Dr. Samuel Godefroy, who is our director general of the foods directorate, under whose responsibility this issue of listeriosis lies, as well as Dr. Jeff Farber, who is the director of our bureau of microbial hazards; he was directly involved at the time and continues to be very involved with these issues.

To continue from what Dr. Butler-Jones has said, let me begin by saying that protecting and promoting the health and safety of Canadians, their families, and communities are of paramount importance to Health Canada. At the federal level, Health Canada's primary responsibility in terms of food is prevention. We set standards and policies for the safety and nutritional quality of all foods sold in Canada and work as part of the wider global food safety network to increase our understanding of food safety risks as well as sharing early warnings of potential food safety incidents.

During food-borne illnesses and outbreaks we work as part of the team, part of the Public Health Agency, and with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in a supportive role, and with our provincial, territorial, and local public health partners to confirm the source of the food-borne illness, to provide laboratory services, and to conduct health risk assessments in an efficient and expeditious manner.

It is within these parameters that I would like to illustrate the progress that Health Canada has made towards fulfilling the recommendations set out in Ms. Weatherill's report.

As mentioned by Dr. Butler-Jones, we have organized our work under three key themes: reducing food safety risks, enhancing surveillance and early detection, and improving emergency response.

Under the theme of reducing food safety risks, we must continually review and adjust our food safety standards, policies, operational procedures, and legislative framework so that oversight continues to be effective in these risks.

In terms of listeria, Health Canada has revised and strengthened its listeria policy, which includes all ready-to-eat foods. We have held targeted stakeholder consultations to guide the revision, and the revised policy was released for public consultation on our website from March 22 to May 3 of this year.

Stakeholder comments and feedback received through this consultation are currently being analyzed by Dr. Jeff Farber and his team in order to refine the policy. We expect it to be finalized by the fall of this year.

In the Weatherill report, it was recommended that Health Canada review its approval processes and fast track, where appropriate, new food additives and technologies that have the potential to contribute to food safety giving particular attention to those that have been scientifically validated in other countries.

Health Canada is doing exactly that. Guidelines to assist industry are being developed using established criteria that would allow us to prioritize and fast-track approvals of food safety interventions that have proven health benefits. We anticipate that these guidelines will be finalized by the fall of 2010. In the meantime, we are already implementing these processes internally.

As an example, Health Canada used this process to approve the use of sodium acetate and sodium diacetate as preservatives in the preparation of meat and poultry products, including cooked and cured meats.

This process will also help us to address other food safety and nutrition issues, which could include, for example, finding alternative fats and oils to help reduce trans fat in our food supply, and therefore Canadians' consumption of this harmful substance.

In her report, Ms. Weatherill also noted the differences in perspectives regarding the quality and strength of evidence on which to base recall decisions.

To address this issue, Health Canada, in collaboration with its national and international food safety partners, has developed a draft guidance document on the weight of evidence needed to support appropriate and timely actions to protect consumers during food-borne illness outbreak investigations.

The weight of evidence takes into consideration all the information gathered through food sample testing and human illness reports, as well as the investigation of farms and/or food premises. Federal, provincial, and territorial counterparts have reviewed the draft guidance document, and it will be shared with a number of Health Canada's international counterparts later this month.

Health Canada is also enhancing our standard operating procedures in support of CFIA's food safety investigations. This includes clarification of timelines in the health risk assessment processes as well as improving the quality of our risk assessments with improved methodologies. The department will continue to add specialized expertise and is in the process of training more staff to conduct health risk assessments in order to continue to provide 24/7 coverage and enhance surge capacity preparedness.

Under the theme of enhancing surveillance and early detection, Health Canada is working in collaboration with CFIA to improve and validate detection methods for listeria and other hazards in food to reduce testing time and enable more rapid response during food safety investigations.

For example, we have an enhanced method for detection of listeria, which will lead to results being available in five to seven days, rather than the ten days that it took us previously. This has been developed by Health Canada, and we're currently validating it for different food commodities and categories. We've also begun working with the National Research Council on a multi-year project to develop even faster lab results, which will allow for the detection of listeria within 48 hours. A first-generation prototype is anticipated for mid-2011.

Under the final theme, improving emergency response, Ms. Weatherill called for targeted communication efforts for particular vulnerable segments of the population. The government recognizes the importance of providing information to Canadians on how to handle food safely to help avoid food-borne illness. Efforts to provide this information are ongoing, and target those populations that are at greater risk of complications from food-borne illnesses--for example, older adults, pregnant women, and those with weakened immune systems.

In March of this year we launched the first stage of a social marketing campaign targeting at-risk populations. This included the publication and distribution of booklets. We brought copies of these, which we'd be happy to share with all of you.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

Excuse me, but could you wrap up with your conclusion? Thank you very much.

[Meena Ballantyne]

I would just like to say that Ms. Weatherill also called for coordination among the federal members. As Dr. Butler-Jones has stated, there is a deputy minister committee, and we have an ADM committee that meets regularly to support Dr. Butler-Jones.

The bottom line is that Health Canada is making measurable progress in the recommendations that pertain to us.

We'd be happy to answer any questions and provide further details.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

Great. Thank you very much.

We'll have our first round of questioning, with seven-minute sections.

Dr. Duncan, you're first....

Yes, Ms. Leslie.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Madam Chair, there's a second handout. Is this from Health Canada?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

“Progress on Food Safety” is from the department.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Okay.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

It's from Health Canada....

[Meena Ballantyne]

It's a Government of Canada progress report.

[Dr. David Butler-Jones]

The secretariat is at Agriculture. It has CFIA at the top, but it is from the four departments.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Perfect.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Joyce Murray]

Thank you for clarifying that.

Dr. Duncan.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses. Thank you for the update.

I'm wondering if you have seen the 2010 food safety performance world ranking study, and I'm wondering if you could tell us how Canada performed on the ability to trace the source of tainted food.

[Meena Ballantyne]

I'll invite Dr. Godefroy to answer that question.

[Dr. Samuel Godefroy, Director General, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the question.

We have indeed seen the report that was published, I believe a week ago or so, from the University of Saskatchewan rating the food safety systems internationally. We were very much interested in the methodology according to which this type of evaluation was conducted. We noted that the report showed some progress in Canada's position in terms of the food safety system we have internationally. In fact, I believe the report noted that we were ranked fourth in the rating.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

We moved from fifth to fourth, and I think the researchers commented—maybe you'll talk to it—on why we moved up.

[Dr. Samuel Godefroy]

That is correct. I guess the report highlighted strength in the area of our food safety systems, in particular our ability to address food recalls and our ability to investigate food safety incidents and address those. The report noted, however, as you mentioned, issues associated with traceability. The issues identified in the report are related mostly to industry practices in traceability, so it's not necessarily identifying issues with traceability in the context of food safety investigations but rather in the food production systems where improvements are required.

Essentially, we're looking still with our colleagues in the federal-provincial-territorial partners—because this is a shared responsibility—at the outcomes of that report and in what way we could address those.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Thank you, Dr. Godefroy.

Yes, I believe Canada ranked at the bottom of the list of 17 countries along with the U.S. I think the reason for the poor showing was that neither country has established farm-to-fork traceability systems, so we don't have the ability to trace tainted foods. And they also pointed out—I'm wondering how you'd respond—that Canada's ability to trace tainted foods has actually declined between 2008 and 2010.

[Dr. Samuel Godefroy]

Thank you. Yes, we noted the way the report showed the traceability issues. Again, those traceability issues really are related to the production systems themselves, and that is being currently discussed, actually, as part of our federal-provincial-territorial discussions on food safety both between the health portfolios but also the agriculture portfolios.

[Dr. David Butler-Jones]

If I may supplement just briefly, it's a traceability in terms of within the industry, in terms of cow X ending up Y, as opposed to the issue of is there human disease or not and are we able to trace that back to the source of the human disease.

In the case of listeria, at the time of the maximum of the outbreak, when there were seven cases a week in Canada and we had only seen a couple of confirmed cases, we were able to identify the source of that and trace it back to the original plant and stop it from infecting anybody else--against the background of 20,000 to 30,000 of us who have those symptoms every single day in Canada.

So our systems in terms of identifying the human risk and the human health issues actually are quite superior.