Item - 2009.HL22.1

The Board of Health:

1.         Requested the Government of Ontario to implement the outstanding recommendations of  the 2005 Report of the Meat Regulatory and Inspection Review (the Haines Report), including:

a.         require all food premises to implement a provincially-developed food safety program based on a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point approach;

b.         amend the Health Protection and Promotion Act to require that all food premise operators and at least one other person present in the food premise at all times of operation be a certified food handler;

c.         develop and implement a province-wide public health investigation, compliance and enforcement policy for all food premises; and

d.         develop and implement uniform consumer food safety education programs.

2.         Requested that the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care explore the feasibility of making all health service data on gastrointestinal illness (the Integrated Public Health Information System; Telehealth Ontario; the Ontario Laboratory Information System; and the new Emergency Room Information System) available to local public health units and to the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion to enable early identification of potential clusters of foodborne illness.

3.         Requested the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion enhance laboratory capacity for rapid identification of agents of foodborne illness in Ontario.

4.         Requested that the Government of Ontario explore legislative and funding options to ensure food handlers are compensated for absences from work due to gastrointestinal illness.

5.         Requested that the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) ensure that Boards of Health receive sufficient provincial funding to comply fully with the Food Safety Protocol of the Ontario Public Health Standards.

6.         Requested that the Government of Ontario and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency require full and timely disclosure of the food safety performance of all food premises they inspect, including premises inspected by local public health units.

7.         Requested that the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada, with input from local public health units, review:  the Foodborne Illness Outbreak Response Protocol to Guide a Multi-Jurisdictional Response (FIORP); the Ontario Foodborne Health Hazard and Illness Outbreak Investigations Memorandum of Agreement; and the Food Premises Plant Investigation: Multi-agency Roles document, to ensure that:

a.         roles and responsibilities of responding agencies are clear and consistent in all protocols, including lead responsibility for public communications;

b.         regular training, including multi-agency simulation exercises, is provided for staff of all responding agencies; and

c.         a process is put in place for activating FIORP and striking an outbreak coordination committee of responding agencies whenever a significant multi-jurisdictional outbreak occurs.

8.         Requested the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to review its food recall and public notification policies and procedures to ensure that:

a.         a food product is recalled and the public notified when epidemiologic evidence provides reasonable and probable grounds to conclude that cases of foodborne illness are linked to consumption of a food product; and

b.         public communications and recall verification procedures are thorough and effective in reducing exposure to a potentially hazardous food product.

9.         Requested the Medical Officer of Health to submit a report to the Board of Health outlining a more effective public education strategy to reach out to those communities that have been less fortunate in terms of getting useful information on healthy food and prevention of foodborne illness.

10.       Requested the Medical Officer of Health to report to the Board of Health on whether there are additional measures Toronto Public Health can take to permanently close food premises with an ongoing record of serious health violations.

11.       Forwarded this report to the federal Ministers of Health and Agriculture andAgrifood; the Canadian Food Inspection Agency; the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC); SheilaWeatherill; the Ontario Ministers of Health and Long Term Care, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and Natural Resources; the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion; the Association of Local Public Health Agencies; the Ontario Public Health Association; and all Boards of Health in Ontario.