That will change. In the future, the production chain is responsible to make sure the food that comes to the counter is safe. Blaha also warned that farmers must change their practices to avoid being sideswiped by food safety issues, such as charges that modern agriculture passes drug-resistant pathogens on to humans. Meat inspection cannot always control those pathogens. That means livestock producers must take responsibility for quality assurance in the animals they send to market, he said.
Government still has a role in setting standards.
But it will be up to producers to meet those standards or lose their business. It's what happens when we don't treat it with respect. Food-safety officials emphasize that Canada's food system is safe. Accurate numbers are difficult to come by, but Health Canada officials believe that fewer than 500 people die every year from tainted food. As many as 2.2 million individuals are sickened by bacterial food poisoning annually although there are no firm estimates about how many cases go unreported.