The Canadian food safety system is generally regarded as one of the best in the world. Protecting the health of Canadian families and the safety of the Canadian food supply is of paramount importance to the Government of Canada. As such, it is important to determine exactly what transpired in regards to the listeriosis outbreak.

The investigation into the listeria outbreak will:

examine the events, circumstances and factors that contributed to the listeriosis outbreak review the efficiency and effectiveness of the response of the federal organizations, in conjunction with their food safety system partners, in terms of prevention, recall of contaminated products and collaboration and communication with its food safety system partners and consumers make recommendations, based on lessons learned from this event and from other countries in terms of best practices, as to what could be done to enhance both prevention of a similar outbreak occurrence in the future, and removal of contaminated product from the food supply perform his/her duties without expressing any conclusion or recommendation regarding the civil or criminal liability of any person or organization adopt procedures for the expedient and proper conduct of the investigation, including reviewing relevant records and documents and consulting as appropriate and submit to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, in both official languages, before 15 March 2009, a report on the matters listed the first four points above.

Further Reading

-

Go to our previous news item on this story by clicking here.