Ensuring Canadians have up-to-date information on healthy and safe food

October 30, 2013, Ottawa: Today, the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health, announced improved communications tools to help consumers with essential real-time and easy-to-understand information about food safety and food recalls. The Minister made the announcement during a cooking demonstration highlighting healthy and safe food handling practices.

"Our Government is committed to ensuring that Canadians have confidence in the food they buy and eat," said Minister Ambrose. "Knowing that food is healthy and safe to eat is fundamentally important to all Canadians and their families. That is why we are improving food recall warnings by making complex food safety processes and information about recalls easily accessible and available for consumers."

The key initiatives include:

• Food recall warnings that are clearer and easier for consumers to understand can be found on inspection.gc.ca and healthycanadians.gc.ca;
• A new Healthy and Safe Food Facebook Page, that will post easy-to-read information on recalls;
• An expanded use of Twitter to reach more Canadians with important information, including details about food safety and recalls; and
• Interactive tools, now available for smartphones and tablets, that provide important food safety information to consumers on food recall and meat inspection.

"During recalls, consumers have many questions, from what to do with recalled products to what and why specific products are recalled," said Bruce Cran, President of the Consumers Association of Canada. "The Government's enhanced recall warnings will provide consumers with better information regarding steps they should take during food recalls."

"More than a million Canadians are affected by food allergies," said Marilyn Allen, from Anaphylaxis Canada. "Access to timely and easy-to-understand information about the food they eat is important to our members so they can make informed choices."

"Food safety is an important issue for Canadians. We can all play a role in making sure the food we put on our tables is safe to eat by learning how to handle and prepare it with care," said Dr. Martine Dubuc, Chief Food Safety Officer for Canada and Vice-President, Science, Canadian Food Inspection Agency. "Easy things we can do like proper food handling, cooking, and storage are essential to prevent foodborne illness."

Media inquiries:

CFIA Media relations (613) 773-6600

Michael Bolkenius Office of the Honourable Rona Ambrose Federal Minister of Health (613) 957-0200