Today the report on the Weatherill Investigation into the listeriosis outbreak last year was made public.  Ever since this investigation got underway, we have made sure that Ms. Weatherill and her team had complete access to our people and any information they required.  The final outcome is a very thorough report which provides valuable insights and recommendations to improve Canada’s food safety system.  I am personally grateful for the effort of the investigative team…this is a life and death matter and they took that mandate very seriously.

 It is also an important and a painful reminder of the factors that led to last year’s tragedy which resulted in the deaths of 22 people. Some areas of the report are tough on Maple Leaf and our practices as it ought to be.  We don’t protest our innocence and continue to take full responsibility.  No report, no matter how thorough, can match the level of self-criticism and remorse we have felt as a result of this tragedy.  We have left no stone unturned to improve every part of our food safety program as a result.    

What we believed was a strong food safety program at the time was quite simply, not good enough. We lacked the scientific rigour, investigative substance and Listeria quarantine nets that we have in place now.  We cannot expect people to forget and neither will we.  Ultimate accountability for last year’s tragedy rests with us. We can and will continue to use it as an opportunity to remind ourselves that lives and livelihoods depend on the duty of care that we take – day in, day out – to ensure that it never happens again.

The Weatherill Investigation was established in January as an independent investigation into the Listeriosis outbreak.  Sheila Weatherill who is leading this task is asking Canadians for their feedback.  Individuals are encouraged to send comments about their views on the Listeriosis outbreak last summer and more generally on food safety. 

The email address to send your comments is: contacts@li.investigation-enquete.gc.ca.  

Examples of valuable feedback requested include:

• How did you first learn about the outbreak (e.g., TV, newspaper, radio, word of mouth)?
• Did you go online to look up information on Listeriosis? Which web site(s) were most informative? If you visited the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s website, was the information easy to locate, was it easy to understand and was it helpful?
• Did the information you obtained (from whatever source) tell you what you needed to know? For example, did you know what products had been recalled, and how to tell if they were in your refrigerator? Were the symptoms of Listeriosis clearly communicated, so that you were able to determine if you or others close to you should seek medical advice?
• In terms of management and communications of the crisis, what do you think should have been done better?

We are extremely supportive of this “Listening to Canadians” initiative.  Maple Leaf learned many lessons from last year’s tragedy and welcomes the opportunity to learn more through this effort so that by working together with government and industry we can champion for better food safety performances in the interests of all Canadians.

Last night the Standing Committee on Agriculture & Agri-Food Parliamentary Sub-committee on Food Safety, which has been assembled to study the food safety system in Canada and the August 2008 recall, set its initial work schedule.  This is good news. Improving our system of food safety protection is important work for Canadian legislators.

I’m going to be asking to appear early in the hearing process with Randy Huffman, our Chief Food Safety Officer.  All of us at Maple Leaf learned a lot through the tragedy of last year’s Listeria outbreak.  We owe it to the families of those who died and the thousands who were affected to share those lessons in the interests of a higher level of food safety in Canada.

When we appear before the committee, we are going to lay out, chapter and verse, what happened last August.  We also have a number of suggestions we intend to raise about how the industry overall needs to raise its game going forward as well as about the important role government policy and regulation should play.

Along with the Weatherill Investigation, this Parliamentary process offers an opportunity for Canada to jump to the forefront of food safety and I’m extremely supportive of that.