Food safety is an important human health concern. Ensuring that the food we eat is safe involves regulation, and oversight, at all stages of food production, preparation and sale. Alberta Health Services (AHS), the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture and Forestry (Agriculture) share responsibility for food safety in the province.
In our October 2006 public report we made 10 recommendations to improve food safety in Alberta. We followed up and reported on the implementation process of these recommendations in 2009 and 2013. After the most recent follow-up audit, two of the original 2006 recommendations remain outstanding.
What we concluded
We conclude that AHS, the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture and Forestry have achieved the outcomes described in our audit objective:
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AHS, Health and Agriculture jointly developed an integrated food safety work plan, and senior management from all three entities now work together to improve provincial food safety policies and program delivery through the Food Safety Modernization Committee.
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Both AHS and Agriculture now publicly report food safety facility inspection results on their websites.
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AHS and Agriculture now have similar practices to each other for inspecting businesses that both process and sell meat.