Health committee  Very well.

Health committee  Thank you. Just to clarify this, I didn't say I couldn't identify the number of inspectors. We can very clearly state that on, for example, March 31, 2010, the CFIA had just over 3,300 field inspectors. What I said was related specifically to the question of how many non-slaught

Health committee  We can speak to the total number of inspectors. The specific question related to just one component, and I simply don't have that information with me. That was my point.

Health committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I think it is important because in talking about the numbers it's always quite easy to get a little bogged down. When Carol overviewed additional inspection capacity, it's important to recognize that of the 170 additional inspectors we're adding

Health committee  Absolutely. The 170 inspection staff that are added are all in relation to ready-to-eat meat. This is all in the context of non-slaughter, as additional inspection capacity in that area.

Health committee  The total capacity will encompass—

Health committee  I don't have an absolute number for non-slaughter today.

Health committee  Just briefly, clearly I won't try to answer all of the details, such as the amount of time for each hire. In terms of the funding, there was an immediate investment of $75 million the government made in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and budget 2010 added an additional $13

Health committee  Thank you. The approach we have taken to training is to enhance our entire training approach, both for new inspectors and for existing staff. As the president of CFIA has noted, there are significant numbers of new inspectors being hired. There is a substantive training program

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much for the question. Indeed, while we established a number of mandatory obligations through our directives, we didn't stop there. We've also worked with the industry. And we have to commend the industry for its leadership in recognizing that in addition to the m

Agriculture committee  Indeed they are. Until recently, international standards in terms of listeria control didn't exist. But I am pleased to say that this summer the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted standards for listeria control, and those standards are directly aligned with the standards estab

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Thank you for the question. Mr. Chairman, the vaccine is subject to the regulatory oversight of the CFIA. Before the vaccine can be marketed, the CFIA assesses both its effectiveness as well as the safety of the vaccine for the target animals. In this case, the product was asse

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Thank you. Mr. Chairman, the use of food irradiation as one of the elements in the toolkit is indeed an option that has merit. We recognize that, at present, there are limitations on the availability of food irradiation. Before irradiation can be applied to a food, it must be ap

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  The food safety opportunity that irradiation presents would be to further minimize the potential for contamination of product by treating these products after they have been processed and packaged in order to, in essence, eliminate disease-causing micro-organisms. So it is indeed

Subcommittee on Food Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for the question. As Dr. Evans has noted, the importance of the environmental testing has been a key factor in terms of our lessons learned. That's why we took the step not only of requiring on a mandatory basis that companies integrate regula