Before it reaches your plate, your food supply has been tested by various government departments.

Here is a list of activities carried out to ensure the food you purchase is safe.

Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives

Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives staff provide a variety of services. They:

• permit and inspect all Manitoba milk producers.
• license all dairy processing plants in the province and conduct regular inspections.
• conduct bacterial and other analyses on raw milk, pasteurized milk and finished milk products to ensure that stringent safety and quality requirements are met.
  - raw milk is tested for bacteria, somatic cell counts, antibiotics and added water,
  - pasteurized milk and finished milk products are tested for bacteria, composition, added water and phosphatase (an indication of pasteurization)
• check truckloads of milk daily for the presence of antibiotics and other inhibitors
• license and provide training to buttermakers, cheesemakers, pasteurizer operators, milk receivers and bulk milk haulers.
• investigate consumer dairy complaints.
• provide information, workshops, written material and trouble shooting services to producers of livestock products.
• provide information, workshops and written material on food safety through home economists in district offices.
• provide technical assistance to industry organizations developing HACCP-based on-farm food safety programs.

Manitoba Conservation

Public health inspectors with Manitoba Conservation:

• inspect food processing plants (except dairies), restaurants, institutional food services, meat processing plants, retail food stores, mobile canteens, caterers and temporary food services.
• register and issue permits to all food handling establishments within their jurisdiction.
• provide certified training to food handlers.
• investigate food-borne illness outbreaks, including food sampling, facility inspection and patient case histories.
• participate in food recalls/allergy alerts.
• investigate consumer food complaints.
• provide food safety information to the public.

Manitoba Health

Departmental staff at Manitoba Health:

• co-ordinate communicable disease control including food-borne illness outbreak investigations.
• provide information, workshops and written material on food handling and safety.
• co-ordinate food handler training programs.
• issue permits to butchers to process uninspected meat and return it to the owner. (This meat cannot be sold.)
• participate in food recalls/allergy alerts.
• provide legal authority for the destruction of unfit foods.
• administer and fund the Domestic Meat Inspection Program utilizing staff from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

City of Winnipeg Environmental Health Services

Within the inner-city, environmental health officers:

• inspect food processing plants (except dairies), restaurants, institutional food services, meat processing plants, retail food stores, mobile canteens, caterers and temporary food services.
• investigate food-borne illness outbreaks, including food sampling, facility inspection and patient case histories.
• register and issue permits to all food-handling establishments within their jurisdiction.
• provide certified training to food handlers and supervisory staff.
• participate in food recalls/allergy alerts.
• investigate consumer food complaints.
• provide food safety information to the public.
• provide food inspection services for commercial shipping on Winnipeg rivers.

The Government of Canada has consolidated all federally mandated food inspection and quarantine services into a single food inspection agency. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) began operations in April 1997 and reports to Parliament through the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

All inspection services related to food safety, economic fraud, trade-related requirements, and animal and plant health programs are provided by CFIA. The responsibility for food safety policy, standard setting, risk assessment, analytical testing research and audit is reinforced and remains with Health Canada.

Staff at CFIA:

• register and inspect all plants that ship meat, fish, milk, poultry, eggs, honey, fruits and vegetables inter-provincially and for export.
• use national standards to inspect all registered food processing plants for sanitation.
• perform pre-and post-slaughter inspections at 31 small rural meat slaughtering plants throughout Manitoba as per a federal-provincial agreement.
• inspect each animal and its major organs physically for signs of disease at time of slaughter.
• sample regularly for antibiotic and sulfa drug residues, hormones, pesticides, fungicides and heavy metals in food products taken from registered plants. Any samples exceeding safe levels established by Health Canada are condemned. If antibiotic residues are found, CFIA checks more samples and traces them back to the farm for follow-up. For example, if the problem is with pigs, the farmer must ship five advance pigs for testing before marketing any other animals.
• approve labels and inspect labelling in registered plants, under standards set by the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act.
• test thousands of random samples of fresh and processed agricultural products to detect residues.
• inspect all non-registered food processing plants for compliance with the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations.
• review and inspect labeling in non-registered plants under standards set by the Consumer Packaging and Labeling Act and Food and Drugs Act and Regulations.
• co-ordinate food recalls.
• act on food product consumer complaints.
• register animal feed processors and monitor ingredients in feed, according to standards set by Health Canada. Corrective action is taken if needed.
• examine imported foods to ensure their compliance with Canadian standards.
• hold and thoroughly examine the next 15 shipments if residues in imported meats are too high.
• the CFIA encourages the development and maintenance of HACCP based systems in federally registered agri-food processing establishments (including slaughter establishments) and shell egg grading stations and honey packers.
• regulate the import and export, processing, packaging, labelling, shipping, certification, storage, recapping of shellfish.

CFIA also registers the following plants in Manitoba:

• five meat slaughtering plants
• three poultry slaughtering plants
• 14 meat processing plants
• two processed egg stations
• six honey processing plants
• 40 honey processor graders
• 20 processed fruit and vegetable importers
• 20 fresh fruit and vegetable dealers
• seven fruit and vegetable plants
• four cold storages
• two dry storages
• 37 egg grading stations
• 13 dairy plants

Health Canada/Health Products and Food Branch

In Canada, federal regulatory responsibility for food is shared between Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Health Canada establishes policies and standards relating to the safety and nutritional value of food sold in Canada and assesses the effectiveness of the C.F.I.A.'s activities related to food safety.

Health Canada's Food Program is responsible for evaluating food additives, pesticide levels in foods, developing testing methods, evaluating new potential hazards, setting standards and guidelines for contaminants, bacteria and chemical residues, and recommending removal or restriction of harmful substances.

Staff of the Health Canada's Food Program are also involved in:

• hazard identification, health risk and benefit assessments dealing with food additives, chemicals, natural contaminants, bacteria and hazardous extraneous material.
• ensuring the nutritional value and safety of novel foods.
• review and evaluation of submissions from industry for approval of new food additives, infant formula and novel foods.

Although Health Canada's Food Program has its headquarters in Ottawa, there are regional offices in Burnaby, BC; Winnipeg, MB; Scarborough, ON; Longueuil, QU; and Halifax, NS . All regional offices except Halifax have research facilities.

Canadian Grain Commission

Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) staff:

• monitor export shipments of Canadian cereals, oilseeds and pulse crops for pesticide residues, mycotoxins and trace elements to confirm the safety of Canadian grain and identify potential problems before they become a health risk or a marketing issue.
• provide scientific support to CGC and grain industry inspectors for evaluation of any suspicious looking (e.g. pesticide-treated seed) or smelling (e.g. unusual odours) samples or parcels of grain.
• provide instructions to the trade on the handling and disposal of suspect parcels of grain to keep contaminated lots out of food, feed and export channels.
• provide pesticide residue, trace elements and mycotoxin analysis services to Canadian marketers, processors and importers for grain cargo certification and other safety assurance purposes.
• provide scientific advice and assistance to Canadian grain marketers and processors on all matters related to grain safety assurance, including evaluation of food safety specifications outlined in sales tenders and contracts, to further their ability to meet customer demands for assurances on food safety matters.
• monitor each new harvest of Canadian grain crops for mycotoxin producing fungi (e.g. Fusarium spp.) and toxic elements to detect and track their occurrence, range in levels and geographical distribution.
• provide input into the review process for some of the new pesticides proposed for use in the Canadian grain industry to ensure that the safety, high quality and integrity of Canadian grain is never jeopardized by the use of inappropriate agricultural chemicals.
• provide credible and reliable documentation on grain safety issues, including statements of assurance, to assist marketers in promotion of grain sales and meeting contractual obligations.

Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA)

• The PMRA administers the Pest Control Products Act for the federal Minister of Health. The Pest Control Products Act regulates the use of substances that claim to have a pest control use. The Act also regulates other substances, such as formulants, adjuvants and contaminants, that are contained in pest control products.

• The Pest Management Regulatory Agency
  • conducts the appropriate assessment of the risks and value of the product specific to its proposed use. The value assessment may consider whether the use of the product contributes to pest management and whether the application rates are the lowest possible to effectively controls the target pest. The risk assessment considers the inherent toxicity, persistence and bioaccumlative nature of the product, while addressing such key concerns as the degree to which humans and the target and non-target environment may be exposed, and the possible health hazards associated with the product.
  • provides ongoing surveillance, advances in analytical methods and improved evaluation processes that provide a means to uncover environmental or health concerns, particularly with older products.
  • states that on-compliance with conditions of registration is a violation of the Pest Control Products Act and may lead to suspension, cancellation, use restrictions or the phasing out of a pest control product.

  
   

For Further Information See Your Local Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Office.
 

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