24/04/2012 | News Release
Ottawa – CFIA cuts to food safety programs and plans to overhaul food inspection are being withheld from the public amid conflicting statements from the Minister and his senior executives about the cuts and changes, according to the Agriculture Union – PSAC, which represents federal food inspectors.
While Minister Ritz insists that frontline inspectors will be unaffected by budget cuts, CFIA executives say “I don’t know how you take 10% of your budget and not deal with the front line”.
11/04/2012 | News Release
Ottawa – The federal government is stripping as many as 100 food safety inspectors from its ranks as a result of budget cuts, more than reversing increases to the inspection force put in place in response to the Maple Leaf Foods listeriosis outbreak which killed 23 Canadians.
“This decision will make the inspector shortage worse, not better. And because the government has failed to consult its own inspectors, they are cutting food safety blindly with little understanding of the consequences,” says Bob Kingston, President of the Agriculture Union – PSAC, which represents federal food inspectors.
