Canada’s Food Safety Ranking Surprises Researchers

(CBC News)

Canada ranks fifth for food safety in a survey comparing 17 industrial countries, says a University of Regina study released Wednesday.

The study’s authors, marketing professor Sylvain Charlebois and microbiology professor Chris Yost, say they were surprised to learn that Canada’s food safety systems are among the most thorough and effective in the world.

“I was expecting Canada to be deemed an average country,” said Charlebois.

“I’ve been studying food safety practices in our country awhile and I’ve been quite critical, especially with respect to mad cow. But when you compare Canada to other countries, it’s quite good.”

The report ranks Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries based on 45 indicators, including hygiene practices, ability to contain risks, recalls and traceability.

The top ranking went to the United Kingdom, a country that has suffered from two recent and significant food scares — mad cow disease and foot and mouth disease.

Japan ranked second, followed by Denmark, Australia and Canada. Ireland came out on the bottom of the list, just below Belgium and France.

The researchers say Canada got most of its brownie points for its system of inspections of food imports, restaurants, food retailers, distributors and processors. It also has an effective system for food recalls and educating consumers about food safety.

Canada fell down in its ability to trace food across the supply chain. “Consumers should care about this,” said Charlebois. “If there’s a recall of a food in a grocery store, it’s super important to trace back that food to its source of origin.”

Canada also fell down in labelling, including labelling for food allergies, and in its significant use of pesticides.

“The more a country uses pesticides, the less likely food will be safe for consumers,” said Charlebois, calling for more research into safe substitutes for pesticides.

The researchers noted there was very little correlation between a country’s wealth and its ranking, pointing out the wealthiest country in the world, the United States, ranked seventh.

Charlebois and Yost say they hope their food safety report card will become an annual publication.