News Articles

March 30, 2009
Canada.com
By Sarah Schmidt

Changes to domestic grain inspection increase food-safety risks: Report

OTTAWA — The federal government's plan to eliminate domestic inspection of grain will raise the risk of contaminated and unsafe products making their way to the table, according to a new study about proposed reforms to Canada's grain regulatory system.

Legislation currently before Parliament proposes to end mandatory "inward" inspections when grain arrives at terminals and transfer elevators across the country, leaving it up to private companies representing the buyers or sellers to arrange their own inspections if they think they're needed.

Inspectors with the Canadian Grain Commission, who flag grains containing fragments of glass, rodent excrement and contaminants, play an invaluable role in grain safety and quality, states Threatened Harvest, to be released Tuesday by the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

"These are problems that the inspectors routinely root out. They're inspecting the grain as it arrives, when the parcel is intact. So if there's a problem, they are able to segregate that grain and deal with it. They know where it came from so they can track a problem back to a region and recommend remedial action. Once it's mixed, they can't do that," co-author Scott Sinclair, a veteran trade policy adviser to provincial governments, said in an interview.

"If you don't have inward inspection, that is a level of scrutiny that will not be done. What other levels remain is an open question," added co-author Jim Grieshaber-Otto, an agricultural botanist who operates a family farm near Agassiz, east of Vancouver.

"It's definitely the front line. There's no better place to catch it than with the Canadian Grain Commission with inward inspection."

Commission inspectors are currently stationed at terminal and transfer elevators in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

In addition to increasing the risk of food-safety problems, the study concludes that Bill C-13, introduced in the House of Common last month to change the way the commission oversees the system of grain grading and inspection, will undermine the commission's ability to prevent fraud; "blending" occurs when lower grades or protein levels is mixed with higher-quality grains prior to sale.

Separately, the commission has already announced it will be eliminating all requirements for official inspection and weighing on grain destined to the United States, regardless of conveyance type (truck, rail, vessel) or facility type (primary, terminal, transfer elevators). This new policy will take effect this summer.

The commission said it will provide "outward" inspection or weighing services for grain destined to the U.S. on an optional basis when requested at terminal elevators only, subject to operational availability.

Saskatchewan MP David Anderson, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture, defended the government's proposal to kill mandatory inward inspection during a debate in the House of Commons earlier this month. Noting the "industry has been calling for change in this area for some years now," he said there is "no reason to require something that is not necessary, particularly when the cost comes out of the bottom line of farmers and the grain industry."

He added, "I want to be clear. This does not mean that grain would go through the system without inspection. Outward inspection would still be required when grain is loaded onto vessels for export, and export vessel shipments would continue to require certification by the CGC, based on inspection and weighing by CGC personnel."

The study notes the unpredictable and chronic underfunding of the commission over the past decade has enabled the Conservative government to push for the deregulation of Canada's grain system. Since 2001, parliamentary appropriations has ranged from as low as $20 million to a high of $42 million.

At same time, Parliament has prevented the commission from raising revenues through higher user fees by freezing them at 1991 levels. "In short, Parliament is starving the (commission) of the revenues it needs to fulfil the vital mandate that Parliament itself assigned to it," the report states.

The legislation also proposes to eliminate the Grain Appeal Tribunals; currently, producers dissatisfied with the grade assigned to their grain by an inspector can appeal to this independent body. The new legislation outlines a process in which grain-related disputes is decided instead by private contractors.

"Privatizing the appeal process in this way would expose it to real and perceived conflicts of interest. It would erode the ethos of trust that now underlies Canada's internationally respected grain grading system," said Grieshaber-Otto.

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