....I would like someone to explain to me how the outbreak could have been controlled and stopped 100%.
Listeriosis and power Occasionally, planes crash, cars collide, and listeriosis kills. If anybody were able to stop these accidents, it would be government bureaus like the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). A CFIA inspector may “at any time enter any place or stop and enter any vehicle in which the inspector believes on reasonable grounds there is any meat product or other thing to which this Act applies”. Anybody around, continues the Meat Inspection Act, “shall give the inspector all reasonable assistance ... and shall furnish the inspector with any information the inspector may reasonably require”. Moreover, “[n]o person shall obstruct or hinder, or make any false or misleading statement either orally or in writing to, [sic] an inspector while the inspector is engaged in carrying out his duties or functions”. Offenders risk fines and jail sentences. CFIA’s constituting law allows the bureau to order that any product “be recalled or sent to a place designated by the Minister”. The agency can impose fees for its inspection “services”. Under the 63-page Meat Inspection Regulations, every meat processing establishment must be registered (yes, there is a meat processor registry!) and its operator licenced. The CFIA can shut down a plant which does not meet regulatory requirements. Among the profusion of regulatory requirements, for example, “every registered establishment in which food animals are slaughtered shall be equipped with offices, dressing rooms, shower facilities and lavatories for the exclusive use of inspectors”. Inspectors are stationed at meat processing plants like the Maple Leaf plant in Toronto. Again, the violation of these requirements is punishable by fines and jail time. These exorbitant powers are not new. The Meat Inspection Act dates from 1985, the first regulations were adopted in 1990, and the CFIA was created in 1997. How terrible the situation must have been before! How many of our loved ones must have died from contaminated food! I have not talked about the other 50 laws and regulations administered by the CFIA. I have not mentioned the powers of the new Canadian Public Health Agency, born from a bill introduced by the Liberals in 2005 and then reintroduced and adopted by the Conservatives in 2006. Nor have I delved into the powers of provincial public health bureaucracies. Remember, they can stop a train in the middle of nowhere and detain everybody on board.
By Pierre Lemieux
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