Real Life Foodborne Illness: Cases, Prevention, Reflection

Part 1: Foodborne Illness Prevention in Canada. Search the Web to find the following answers. Please include the link to your source.
Question/ Topic Summary of Information Source (insert link)

What government agencies
are responsible for food
safety in Canada? What do
these agencies do?
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) administers and enforces all Source
federal legislation related to food inspection, agricultural inputs and
animal and plant health. The CFIA performs this role on behalf of Health
Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Fisheries and Oceans
Canada. The CFIA is responsible for inspecting and regulating federally
registered establishments (generally those that move products across
provincial or national boundaries)

How much power do these
organizations have over the
corporations that produce
food?
The CFIA also has the legislative power to enforce the fraud and labelling Source
provisions of the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, the Canada
Agriculture Products Act and associated regulations to all food processors
in Canada, including Ontario-licensed plants. When problems occur, the
CFIA also communicates possible food safety risks to Canadians.

Find 2 cases of Food Borne 1. Salmonella Outbreak linked to corn Source 1

Illness or Food Recalls in There has been an outbreak of Salmonella in Canada, and it is linked to a Source 2
Canada that happened can of corn. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) reports that there
recently and summarize each are now 110 people from five provinces who have been confirmed as
outbreak patients. As of Dec. 21 there were 84 confirmed patients. The
CFIA collected different food items from restaurants where ill people
dined. Testing found the outbreak strain of Salmonella in an unopened
package of Alasko brand frozen whole kernel corn. Traceback findings
identified Alasko as the common brand of frozen corn consumed at
various food service establishments by individuals who became sick. Four
individuals have been hospitalized. NO deaths have been reported.
Individuals who became ill are between 1 and 89 years of age. The
majority of cases, 64 percent, are female.
2. Listeria Outbreak in Canada and US
 Real Life Foodborne Illness: Cases, Prevention, Reflection
What is Dinesafe? How does
it work? What is the
difference between a critical
infraction and a noncritical
infraction?
What is the job of a Food
Inspector in
Ontario/Canada?
The Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency
(CFIA) and Health Canada are investigating an outbreak of listeriosis,
across three provinces (British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario). The
United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also
issued a notice about a multistate outbreak of Listeria illnesses occurring
in several states. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) has revealed that the
type of Listeria identified in the U.S. is closely related genetically to the
Listeria making people sick in Canada, meaning the people affected likely
share a common source of infection. As of August 23, there have been
seven confirmed cases of Listeria monocytogenes illness in Canada, six of
whom required hospitalization due to the severity of their symptoms. In
the United States, 24 cases of listeriosis have been reported from 13
different states. Of the 24 people affected, 22 required hospitalization and
two have died.
DineSafe is Toronto Public Health’s food safety program that inspects all Source 1
establishments serving and preparing food. Each inspection results in a Source 2
pass, a conditional pass or a closed notice. Critical infractions are
violations that present a high risk for a health hazard to be present. Most
critical infractions must be corrected at the time of inspection or, an
acceptable measure must temporarily be in place to ensure that the
hazard is controlled. An example of a critical infraction is not cooking food
at the internal temperatures required to kill harmful bacteria. Non-critical
violations present a low to moderate risk for a health hazard to be
present. An example of a non-critical infraction is a food handler not
wearing a hair restraint while handling food.
Food inspectors make sure that establishments comply with the Source.
requirements for meat and livestock products, milk and milk products,
fish, fruits, vegetables, maple products and honey by providing inspection
services at production and processing facilities and other points of
marketing and distribution. It cooperates with colleague branches and
 Real Life Foodborne Illness: Cases, Prevention, Reflection
agencies in establishing food safety standards and working with other
ministries and agencies with food safety mandates to provide a strong
seamless food inspection environment from farm to fork in Ontario.

Part 2: Foodborne Illness & COVID-19 →Find (2) articles that talk about COVID-19. One of the articles should be
about Foodborne Illness and COVID-19 in Canada and the other can be about another country.

Article related to Foodborne Illness Summary of Information Source (Insert link)

Canada: Is the COVID-19 Pandemic Reducing COVID-19 forced a lot of restaurants and
Food-borne Illness Incidents?
https://blog.foodsafety.ca/covid-19-
establishments to close, however, it was pandemic-reducing-food-borne-illness-
found that cases of foodborne illnesses incidents
have decreased since then. It was found
that the closure of certain types of food
businesses are also playing a role in the
reduction of food-borne illnesses. Under
COVID-19 restrictions, buffets were not
permitted to operate within Canada which
effectively reduced the risk of food-borne
illness

Global: The pandemic has influenced many areas https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/

of life, such as the economy, health, article/pii/S1876034123000606
education, global travel, food, and
agricultural sectors in Africa. Foodborne
illnesses are prevalent in Africa. Together,
it was found that cholera and diarrhoeal
diseases – caused by non-typhoidal
Salmonella and Escherichia coli account
Real Life Foodborne Illness: Cases, Prevention, Reflection
for more than 70% of the foodborne
disease burden in Africa. The pandemic
worsened the issue of food safety and
food security globally, leading to food
scarcity and inflation. The impact has been
detrimental to global public health and
further aggravated Africa's food safety
issues.