Canada tops overall world ranking of food safety performance

HIGHLIGHTS

• Canada and Ireland followed by France earned top grades among 17 OECD countries in an overall ranking of food safety performance.
• Sixty-seven per cent of Canadians believe their food to be safer than it was five years ago. 
• The report evaluates food safety using ten food safety indicators organized in three food safety risk governance domains.

OTTAWA, Nov. 20, 2014 /CNW/ - Canada ranks first, followed by Ireland and France as the top 3 countries in food safety performance according to 2014 World Ranking Food Safety Performance, a new report produced by The Conference Board of Canada's Centre for Food in Canada in collaboration with the University of Guelph's Food Institute.

"Canada's excellent grades in most food safety performance metrics were due to its consistently low number of food-borne illness cases and reported recalls, Canada's new policy on allergen labeling and a greater focus on transparency," said Dr. Jean-Charles Le Vallée, Senior Research Associate and lead author of the report. "This is good news as public trust for our food safety system is also growing."

"Given that our economy is more globalized than ever, understanding other food safety regimes is critical moving forward," according to the report co-author Dr. Sylvain Charlebois of the University of Guelph's Food Institute. "Increasingly, more food regulators around the world will compel industry to become more accountable to consumers in order to better mitigate systemic risks."

Although 67 per cent of Canadians believe their food to be safer than it was five years ago, work remains to improve the system's performance with more frequent reporting and relaying of information to the public about both chemical risks in food consumption (Total Diet Studies) and nutrition and dietary studies, with additional improvements to traceability and radionuclides standards.

Using 10 performance indicators, the report identifies and evaluates selected common elements among global food safety systems. It provides an overall world ranking of food safety performance for 17 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries illustrated by 10 indicators organized across three food safety risk governance domains: assessment, management and communication.

The report was prepared by The Conference Board of Canada's Centre for Food in Canada in collaboration with the University of Guelph's Food Institute.

The Conference Board of Canada will be hosting a live webinar discussing the results of this report on November 21, 2014.

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SOURCE: Conference Board of Canada

Juline Ranger, Associate Director of Communications, The Conference Board of Canada, Tel.: [phone] ext. 431, E-mail: [email protected]; or Yvonne Squires, Media Relations, The Conference Board of Canada, Tel.: [phone] ext. 221, E-mail: [email protected]