A recent string of high-profile food recalls over the past year has directed renewed attention to the question of food safety across Canada. At issue is the safety of the many perishable products that move through the country's grocery networks every day. A number of experts now warn that, unless decisive steps are taken to tighten contamination controls, public confidence in the modern food-supply system could be undermined. "These past months have been genuinely unsettling for a great many people throughout the industry," said Colette Bergeron, a federal food-policy analyst. "Shoppers read the alarming headlines and at once picture a tainted product arriving in their own kitchen, which can undo years of a company's careful work and, in the worst cases, send people to hospital.
We have reached a point where many are questioning the entire industrial approach to feeding a country, and I admit that I understand their worry. Once you see how many products were pulled, and how large the companies responsible for them were, a sense of unease is hard to shake. For a small family farm that sells directly to its neighbours, sticking to old, local methods and trusting what you can see with your own eyes can begin to look remarkably sensible."
