SASKATOON (Canadian Press) — Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says the country's food watchdog is planning to impose tougher rules to deal with the threat of E. coli in slaughterhouses.
He says Canadian Food Inspection Agency will also require that meat plants producing mechanically tenderized beef cuts, such as steaks or roasts, label the products as tenderized and include cooking instructions for consumers.
The agency will soon begin a two-year review of the country's food regulations to ensure they are in line with the Safe Food for Canadians Act passed last year.
Ritz says the agency will consult consumers and industry as it works on improvements to the food safety system.
The safe food legislation pulled four existing sets of food inspection regulations into one act to ensure consistent rules and inspection procedures.
It also cleared the way to help the inspection agency build a new system to trace products through the production chain and allow for faster removal of unsafe foods.
