State of Canada's Food Safety System Still Hotly Debated

OTTAWA - When the Canadian Food Inspection Agency first announced a recall of foods containing pistachios in early spring, 25 products sold under three different brands were ensnared in the salmonella scare.

By the time the food-safety investigation was finally completed in June, the recall captured 70 products and 18 brands in Canada - all containing potentially contaminated pistachios from Terra Bella Inc. of California.

At the end of it all, the second largest pistachio company in the United States admitted it did not know salmonella contamination could occur on raw pistachios.

The striking revelation, made on the heels of a recall that was drawn-out because it took time for manufacturers to figure out whether they used the tainted ingredient, is hardly a boost of confidence for consumers who are still digesting a string of listeriosis post-mortems about how Canada's food system failed Canadians last August.

Twenty-two people, most of them elderly Canadians living in provincial long- term care facilities or hospitals, died after consuming deli meats contaminated with listeria produced at a government-inspected plant operated by a leading food company.

And on the eve of the one-year mark of the outbreak, the verdict is still out on how far we've come to improve the food-safety system in the intervening year.

Click here to read the entire article.

Source: Canada.com