OTTAWA, August 25, 2026 – As families prepare to send children back to school, the union representing many of Canada’s food safety experts is warning that federal cuts are weakening the system that keeps unsafe food off grocery shelves and out of school lunchboxes.
Today in Ottawa’s ByWard Market, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) unveiled school lunchboxes packed with recently recalled foods to highlight the scientists, veterinarians, inspectors and other experts who identify risks, investigate outbreaks and help prevent unsafe food from reaching families.
More than 1,300 Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) employees have been affected by workforce reductions. CFIA is eliminating 587 positions, including 504 represented by PIPSC. This is the equivalent of more than one million hours of scientific and technical capacity every year.
“Every recalled item in these lunchboxes is proof that food safety threats are real, and that experts are working behind the scenes to protect our families,” said PIPSC President Sean O’Reilly. “Those are exactly the people being cut.”
The cuts come as CFIA also plans to close its Longueuil laboratory, its national reference and research centre for food allergens, and transfer that work elsewhere.
“For parents of children with serious food allergies, this isn’t an abstract discussion about government spending,” said O’Reilly. “They need to trust that the food they put in a lunchbox is safe.”
PIPSC is calling on the federal government to:
- Protect and strengthen the scientific expertise families rely on.
- Base workforce decisions on evidence, transparency and public risk, not arbitrary targets.
- Stop further cuts without a plan, and publish a public risk assessment and workforce plan before eliminating more scientific or technical positions.
“Families shouldn’t have to learn what these cuts meant after the next outbreak or deadly recall,” said O’Reilly. “Cuts today mean crisis tomorrow. It takes experts to keep Canada safe.”
PIPSC represents over 80,000 public-sector professionals across the country, most of them employed by the federal government. Follow us on Facebook, on Bluesky and on Instagram.
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For more information: PIPSC media relations, media@pipsc.ca
