This week it’s tomatoes.

 

You may have noticed your favourite burger or sandwich from the local fast food outlet or drive-thru tasted a bit different. That’s because many restaurant chains in Canada began to voluntarily “hold the tomatoes” after reports of illnesses in the United States caused by Salmonella Saintpaul linked to certain types of uncooked, fresh tomatoes. Canadian-grown tomatoes have not been implicated.

 

Tomatoes follow chicken, beef, chocolate, spices, spinach, cantalopes and baby food that were the subject of food safety alerts issued by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in recent months. A number of children’s toys and household products have also been flagged for potential health hazards. 

 

In today’s global marketplace, where 65 percent of products sold in Canada are imported, our Conservative Government has been undertaking an aggressive strategy to ensure the federal government has the tools it needs to better protect the health of Canadians and give consumers’ confidence in the food they consume and the products they buy. 

 

The vast majority of Canada’s processors, importers, manufacturers and suppliers provide safe products, but the system must be modernized and our new legislation, Bill C-52, would amend the Food and Drug Act and create a new Canada Consumer Product Safety Act to crack down on those who knowingly endanger their customers. Public access to information about product safety will also be improved to give Canadians more control over their own health protection.

 

The legislation will also prohibit the manufacture, importation, advertisement or sale of consumer products that are a danger to human health or safety; require mandatory reporting by suppliers of serious product-related incidents – including near-misses and defects, allowing for more targeted oversight; dramatically increased fines for violations; and new power for the federal government to order recalls of unsafe consumer products.

 

The second part of our food and consumer safety action plan will modernize and clarify twenty-year-old food labeling guidelines that do not clearly reflect the actual Canadian content of food sold in Canada.

 

As it stands, that “Product of Canada” you just purchased may have been manufactured or packaged in Canada but the ingredients aren’t necessarily Canadian. This is confusing and misleading.

 

Therefore, our Government has proposed two separate labels. A “Product of Canada” label would indicate that ALL or VIRTUALLY ALL of the contents of the product, including ingredients, processing and labour, must be Canadian. There would be very little or no foreign content, with the exception of minor additives or spices which may not be available in Canada.

 

A “Made in Canada” label would indicate that a food product is manufactured or processed in Canada BUT the ingredients could be imported. This recognizes the importance of our value-added industries and informs consumers when they are supporting Canadian processing and manufacturing jobs.

 

The Government has been soliciting feedback from farmers, processors, retailers and consumer groups on these proposals to ensure we get it right. For more information on the Food and Consumer Safety Action Plan, go to: www.healthycanadians.ca.

 

To learn more about the missing tomatoes from your burger and for information on other food alerts, go to: www.inspection.gc.ca.