April 2, 2009 Washington, DC – In a letter to seafood importers the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says, as of April first companies “must be in full compliance” with its regulatory requirements, including “net content.”
“We brought our continued concerns about net weight fraud to CFIA in January, as they worked on their Strengthened Fish Import Program,” said Patrick McGuinness, President of the Fisheries Council of Canada (FCC.) “They quickly recognized the food safety implications and incorporated, what we consider, a well-crafted plan to increase testing for net weight.”
As part of the new effort, foreign firms with a history of poor net weight compliance will receive particular scrutiny.
“We’re pleased to see CFIA taking such a thorough and proactive approach on the net weight issue,” said Lisa Weddig, Secretary of the Better Seafood Bureau. “At the same time we’re disappointed that our own Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has failed to recognize the importance of this issue and devote needed resources to it.”
CFIA’s short-weight inspection initiative will not only increase inspections but investigate specific short-weight complaints.
“The Agency is dedicated to this project and has committed to meet the FCC Short- Weight Committee periodically to review the progress,” said McGuinness.
“We appreciate the FDA’s need for more resources but with $650 million worth of food safety funding in place we would hope they could find a way to allocate a few dollars to crack down on this fraudulent activity,” said Weddig.
The Better Seafood Bureau (BSB) was established by the National Fisheries Institute to provide a mechanism for industry’s partners in the supply chain – restaurants, retail operations, producers and processors - to report suppliers suspected of committing economic fraud.
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Gavin Gibbons
(703) 752.8891
ggibbons@nfi.org
