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Canadian Food Violations Net $15,000 in Fines

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

Canadian courts have recently issued fines totaling $15,000 for violations of various federal meat, plant, and fish laws and their supporting regulations.
Montreal-based Les Aliments Rose Hill Inc. pleaded guilty to two counts of violating Canada's Meat Inspection Act, and was fined $1,000 for each count.
The offenses, which occurred on Oct. 14 and Nov. 26, 2008, consisted of failing to deliver, as soon as possible, an imported meat product to a registered establishment for inspection, contrary to subsection 9(2) of the Meat Inspection Act.
G.C. Campellone Fruits and Vegetables Ltd., also based in Montreal, and its president Giuseppe Campellone, each pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Fish Inspection Act and the Fish Inspection Regulations.
The Court of Quebec ordered the company and its president to each pay a $3,500 fine.
The offense, which occurred on Jan. 10, 2008, involved illegally moving fish in detention without receiving prior authorization for their release from an inspector, in violation of subsection 8(4) of the Fish Inspection Regulations.
A conviction was registered against Bruce County Forest Products Ltd., in the Ontario Court of Justice in Walkerton on Jan. 24. 
The company entered a guilty plea to one count under section 6(1) of the Plant Protection Act for unlawfully moving ash logs that were or could be infested with a pest, resulting in a fine of $5,000. 
Gary William Priebe, an employee of the company, entered a guilty plea to one count under section 23(1) of the Plant Protection Act for unlawfully making a false or misleading statement to an inspector. He was fined $1,000.
The Plant Protection Act is in place to prevent the importation, exportation and spread of pests injurious to plants, and to provide for their control and eradication, and for the certification of plants and other things. Transportation of firewood is a common way for plant pests or invasive species, such as emerald ash borer (EAB), to spread.
In July 2009, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) designated regulated areas to prohibit the movement of articles such as firewood, ash trees, ash logs and/or ash lumber that might be infested with EAB, into areas that are free of this pest. The Order of Infested Places remains in effect. In October 2009, CFIA inspectors investigated prohibited movement of ash logs by Bruce County Forest Products from a regulated area into an unregulated area. The logs were detained and later disposed of safely.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is responsible for enforcing a variety of federal statutes, including the Meat Inspection Act and Meat Inspection Regulations, the Fish Inspection Act and the Fish Inspection Regulations. 
The meat act governs, among other things, the import, export and interprovincial trade of meat products. The CFIA verifies that imported meat products meet Canadian standards.
Under the fish statute, the CFIA verifies that importers of fish and seafood comply with Canadian import regulatory requirements.

Full post as published by Food Safety News on March 04, 2011 (boomark / email).