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Food-Borne Illnesses: Rates Higher In Canada Than U.S., Report Finds

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First Posted: 02/ 8/2012 11:35 am Updated: 02/10/2012 10:40 am

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OTTAWA - A new food safety report released by the Conference Board of Canada says half or more of all cases of food-borne illnesses in Canada are picked up in restaurants or from other food service providers.

The report also stated that Canadians suffer more often from salmonella, e. coli, campylobacter and yersinia than Americans.

The survey emphasizes that the majority of food consumed by Canadians is safe while pointing out that 8.5 per cent of Canadian adults have experienced a food-borne illness in the last year severe enough to force them to miss work.

“The point is Canada does have a good food safety system, but there is room for improvement along the farm to fork continuum, especially in food services and at the household level,” said Daniel Munro, principle research associate of the study.

Most illnesses are caused by mistakes in the final preparation and handling of food including reheating as well as cross contamination. It is estimated there are 6.8 million cases of food-borne illness annually in Canada.

Part of the problem can be traced to restaurant inspection systems that are seen as too sporadic to have an impact on restaurants’ day-to-day food safety practices.

However, Garth Whyte, president and CEO of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association dismissed the report describing it as "shockingly short on facts."

"This study did not even bother contacting us about what we are doing, and if they had, they would know that there are three government recognized food safety training programs that train tens of thousands food handlers per year," Whyte said.

The report provides a number of recommendations to improve Canada’s food safety system including providing restaurants and other food service providers with timely information and advice on how they can minimize food safety risks.

It also urges governments to build on current consumer awareness initiatives by engaging consumers directly in discussions about food safety in their households.

The report comes on the second day of a two day Canadian Food Summit conference held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Also on HuffPost:

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OTTAWA - A new food safety report released by the Conference Board of Canada says half or more of all cases of food-borne illnesses in Canada are picked up in restaurants or from other food service pr...
OTTAWA - A new food safety report released by the Conference Board of Canada says half or more of all cases of food-borne illnesses in Canada are picked up in restaurants or from other food service pr...
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nikkitytom
218 Fans
04:30 PM on 02/11/2012
One of the main problems is we just don't recognize this as the tip of an iceberg. You spend 24 hours hurling your guts out but do you contact the restaurant .... No. Do you report it to the health authorities .... No. You just forget about it and wait until the next time.

I can't believe what I see daily. Buffets with new food ladled over food which has been sitting there for hours, pastries loaded with cream and custard sitting at room temperature. And the worst offenders are the middle range and higher priced restaurants. I've never been sick from a fast food place. Never. But a middle range restaurant is playing with fire because they will serve items which aren't fresh. And never order the "special" because that's sure to be old food.

I avoid salad, won't touch anything with cream or custard on it, never order shellfish outside my home, no ice in soft drinks. And try to stick to speciality restaurants when I order seafood. Still it is a risk. I prefer the restaurant chains for safety, even though I prefer the ambiance of the high-priced restaurants. To me it's not worth the risk.
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giltydreamz
2 Fans
03:24 PM on 02/11/2012
Obviously this is a North Western hemisphere issue.. Genius author missed all of south and central America. the Middle east, Africa, parts of eastern Europe, INDIA !! Bangladesh, many parts of southeast asia Indonesia and China ! ! JErk off
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nikkitytom
218 Fans
04:37 PM on 02/11/2012
No .... he was commenting on the surprising stats in developed countries. We all know the third world countries have higher risks. That's not the point.

But oddly enough, after twenty years iin India .... I was amazed to find myself poisoned so often after I returned to North America. In India it was relatively easy .... you didn't drink the water, which is the primary source of infection. Indian food is invariably fresh and virtually all of it is cooked. The only serious food poisoning I had was after eating a custard tart and accidentallhy drinking unboiled water. The water is the main problem in those countries.

Carelessness and relying on refrigeration to keep food past its prime ... as well as heavy use of easily contaminated creams and dressings as well as lack of hand washing by food preparers are Western problems.
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antipodal2u
Just say NO to hypocrisy
576 Fans
01:51 PM on 02/11/2012
Filthy canadians. Wash yer hands!
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dbenic
6 Fans
11:44 AM on 02/11/2012
I don't believe it.
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Conquering Thor
51 Fans
10:54 AM on 02/11/2012
And here I was thinking that Canada was nothing short of perfect. Who knew, eh?
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firstamendment3
Ex pede Herculem
306 Fans
10:22 AM on 02/11/2012
As if the US tells its citizens the truth...
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pete2polly
50 Fans
10:14 AM on 02/11/2012
When will Pelosi announce there are more Republicans in Canada then Democrats?
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mr science
20 Fans
09:22 AM on 02/11/2012
"Yawn....look, we already know perfectly well, that if there aren't big fines for people getting sick in your restaurant...you won't do anything about it because it might cost a few dollars for throwing away food not fit to serve. Make the first one in any given year be the "qualifier" and every one after that, incrimentally larger.....I.E. $500 for the 2nd, $1000 on the 3rd, etc.
Another effecive plan, would be to just allow all medical expenses, AND a pain and suffering lawsuit (with limits of course) Maybe a small claims action with the small claims ceiling...usually $10K.......we'd see a DRASTIC reduction in food poisonings with THAT one........hahahaha
In what other industry, can you poison people deliberately? (yes, it's deliberate when you won't temp test foods for a +140 deg. temp when they're kept hot...(that's the temp of a medium rare steak at the center) with an insta-read thermometer. Also, many times, it's an employee's poor hygeine that causes these incidents......there should be a registry, and when the worker has 3 instances, he/she should be banned from the industry. Come ON, can someone actually DO something for once?????
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joran111
God and science DO coexist!
199 Fans
08:22 AM on 02/11/2012
What, are the US and Canada at the top of the food-poisoning list? I'll bet we are closer to the bottom of that list, and there are dozens of countries with worse food-poisoning statistics.
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ghkusa
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
221 Fans
10:42 AM on 02/11/2012
"... US and Canada at the top of the food-poiso­ning list?" Very unlikely.

But, the US, Canada, and all European colonialist oppressors must never be shown in a good light. That's PC 101.

Note the wording of the AOL/HP headline/link: "Nation Has More Food Poisoning Than US"! Even "more" than the US, as if the US set the standard with the highest rate of food poisoning!

A better, more positive headline/link would be "Less Food Poisoning In US Than Canada". But, we can't have positive.
.


.
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joran111
God and science DO coexist!
199 Fans
02:29 PM on 02/11/2012
Exactly my point! Except for the "European colonial oppressors" part.
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Nick Hatch
I'm So Meta Even This Acronym
109 Fans
02:36 AM on 02/09/2012
Why, oh why, did they choose an image with the radiation trefoil on it for an article about organic pathogens in our food supply? o_O
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BluebirdofUnhappiness
733 Fans
02:45 PM on 02/09/2012
They don't seem to get even elementary science around here. Especially since irradiating food would ACTUALLY decrease the amount of pathogens.
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Autora
No micro-bio for me, thanks
147 Fans
03:03 PM on 02/11/2012
Irradiating foods decreases the number of pathogens, but he's right that as it wasn't even mentioned in the article, it was completely inappopriate. I for one would rather risk food poisoning than eat irradiated food, or genetically modified.
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joran111
God and science DO coexist!
199 Fans
08:08 AM on 02/11/2012
My question exactly!
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UCBAlum
Secularism is the only guarantee of relig. freedom
748 Fans
 
08:30 PM on 02/08/2012
"The survey emphasizes that the majority of food consumed by Canadians is safe while pointing out that 8.5 per cent of Canadian adults have experienced a food-borne illness in the last year severe enough to force them to miss work."

Wait, what? Each year nearly 1 in 10 people are made so sick they have to miss work? This "emphasizes the safety of food"? I must be missing something...
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ghkusa
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
221 Fans
11:24 AM on 02/11/2012
Good point, good question. But, what's the context of the data?

Perhaps before refrigeration and preservatives the rate was much higher; and/or maybe it is presently significantly higher in dozens or hundreds of other countries. Also, the "8.5 per cent" includes those who obtained safe food and contaminated or otherwise mishandled it at home -- not the fault of restaurants or the "system".

Compared to Utopia, yes, the rate may be high! So what?
.
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Liban CZ
80 Fans
08:16 PM on 02/08/2012
Article like this makes ME SICK!
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RedRat
Ignorance is fixable, stupidty is forever
403 Fans
06:31 PM on 02/08/2012
This of course assumes that the reporting requirements are the same in the US and Canada. They are not! Each state is in control of the reporting of foodborne illnesses. Supposedly, when a person(s) gets sick (which must be diagnosed by a doctor) the doctor must report it to the state health authorities. Now of course there is a form that must be filled out by the doc, which takes TIME! So guess what, the doc comes up with "24hr" flu and not salmonella. In reality, it is estimated that probably only 1 in 8 real cases of food poisoning are actually reported. Some states are more lax than others in getting this information. Now when a state does get a report of illnesses it must forward it to the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and it compiles the data. This all used to be freely available.

The problem here is that because there are wide differences of how the various states handle these reports and how their various health departments handle them, the data can indicate that some states are "dirtier" than others. Not a nice selling point for the various state's tourism bureaus, eh? My guess is that Canada has a much better and more forceful data collection. Because of their health insurance and medical practices their docs may be more willing to really diagnose a food poisoning.
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Snaaaack
0 Fans
05:59 PM on 02/08/2012
I am a Compliance and Food Security Manager at a Canadian Nutrition Bar Manufacturer. Food Safety at a manufacturing level in Canada IMHO is well controlled. Most medium to large processors operate well above the Canadian requirements by performing third party audits that measure to international standards. We operate at a much higher level than required so we can secure business across the united states without difficulty.
The SQF or Safe Quality Food System of regulation is now in place and being adopted by larger processors already.

I think SQF systems should be in place at all Food Processors

Now as a private sector food safety officer, I very much cringe when I sneak a peak into most restaurant kitchens.
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joran111
God and science DO coexist!
199 Fans
08:10 AM on 02/11/2012
...and, home kitchens, too, I'll bet!
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Cynthia Dudley
182 Fans
03:48 PM on 02/08/2012
I suspect that the difference between American and Canadian stats involves under reporting in the States due to the way they do health care. That being said, Canadian restaurants and stores need to be inspected more. The ratio of food inspectors to food establishments is absurd.
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audioscapist
18 Fans
05:05 PM on 02/08/2012
quite likely... I had food poisoning once when I lived in the US for 7 yrs and didn't go to hospital because I simply could not afford it.
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Blacksheep1
Deprogramming the left, one fact at a time..
542 Fans
06:31 PM on 02/08/2012
You're making that up, they're not legally allowed to turn people away for financial reasons, if you go to the ER, you will be treated, and on average, have half the waiting time of a Canadian hospital.
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