Inspection and sampling rates let down Canadian fish controls

The system of controls in Canada for fish sent to Europe has the potential to work well but an assessment has revealed a low frequency of sampling and inspections reduces its effectiveness.

An audit in May 2024 covered fishery products for export to the European Union. Four recommendations were made.

DG Sante auditors found a comprehensive system in place for controlling establishments and factory vessels exporting fish products to the EU. However, effectiveness and reliability are impacted by gaps in the supervision of inspectors’ on-site performance and significant under-delivery of the risk-based planned arrangements in terms of inspections and sampling.

The main imports from Canada are crustaceans and frozen fish. These include American lobster, shrimp, Greenland halibut, North Pacific hake, and yellowtail flounder.

Since January 2018, nine Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) notifications for fish product consignments imported to the EU from Canada have been issued. Eight concerned poor temperature control and one was due to parasitic infestation. For the parasite alert, timely action was taken to request corrective actions by the operator. The returned consignment was destroyed in Canada.

There were three notifications for poor temperature control related to the same factory vessel. The first was issued in November 2018, and the other two in September 2019. Authorities only carried out an inspection to verify the company’s actions in 2021.

Incorrect guidance and missing planned targets

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) developed a guidance document on EU requirements for fish and seafood for inspectors and the industry. However, it contained inaccurate sampling and testing information on microbiological requirements for fishery products sent to the EU. The maximum limits for lead in cephalopods and cadmium in the muscle meat of bullet tuna, anchovies, and swordfish listed in the guidance exceeded EU maximum levels.

Instead of five sample units for Listeria monocytogenes or Salmonella testing, operators based the result on only one composite sample (out of the five samples). According to inspectors, the pooling of samples is allowed according to Health Canada’s policy on Listeria monocytogenes. The audit team noted that the sampling and testing regime for microbiological criteria followed by operators followed the guidance but was not in line with EU requirements. This document has since been corrected.

CFIA has a model to determine a licensed establishment’s risk category. For eight sites in the second risk category with a high priority rating, five of eight inspections were delivered in 2022-23. The percentage of delivery was below 50 percent for sites with a low priority rating.

“The systematic under-delivery by the competent authority of the planned arrangements concerning inspection frequencies prevents the satisfactory meeting of the objectives of the risk-based inspection system, compromising its reliability and effectiveness,” said DG Sante.

For 2022-23, 37 histamine samples were planned, but only 17 were taken. Three hundred fifty heavy metals samples were planned, but 149 were taken, and 731 microbial parameters were planned, but 348 were taken. 

CFIA said the risk-based approach to planning preventive control inspections across all food commodities, including fish, is being adjusted. The plan is to balance frequencies with the resources available further. An increase in resources for sampling tasks was implemented in the 2024-25 fiscal year, and training on hazard identification, analysis, and preventive controls is ongoing.

Auditors found that some establishments and vessels visited had several long-standing significant non-compliances that inspectors did not identify. Supervision measures failed to identify these problems.

2025 audits

The European Commission has also published its health and food audits work program for 2025.

The EU Commission will conduct 259 controls and audits in EU member states, non-EU countries exporting to Europe, and potential EU member states.  

Three new projects will be started in terms of food safety, covering the safety of meat products and preparations, histamine in fishery products, and food safety culture. All member states will be involved in histamine and food safety culture overview reports.

Three audits are planned for the United States, including the safety of fishery products, the chemical safety of food of non-animal origin, and the animal health of poultry. Canada will also have an animal health audit plus one on the production hygiene of live bivalve mollusks. The United Kingdom will be visited to check on animal health, bivalve mollusks, the safety of fishery products, and the safety of products from mammals and poultry for human consumption.

Other audits include the microbiological safety of food of non-animal origin in Brazil, the Czech Republic, Italy, Finland, and Albania and the safety of milk products in Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Ireland, and New Zealand.

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Source: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2024/12/inspection-and-sampling-rates-let-down-canadian-fish-controls/