Canada's food safety system was ranked the best in the world, in a report released Thursday by the Conference Board of Canada in collaboration with the University of Guelph's Food Institute.
Canada's food safety system tied for first place with Ireland in a comparison of 17 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The report is a comparative study which measured and ranked Canada's food safety performance against 16 peer OECD countries, including: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
The ranking highlights Canada's success in a number of areas such as our capacity to respond to food safety emergencies, as well as food safety communication to stakeholders and the public. The report also found that public trust in food safety was the highest in Canada. The overall world ranking score is determined by 10 indicators organized in three areas: assessment, management and communication.
"Canada has one of the safest and healthiest food systems in the world as confirmed by this study. Our Government remains committed to our continuing efforts to further strengthen Canada's food system to ensure that Canadian families can continue to have confidence in the food they buy and eat," said Minister of Health Rona Ambrose.