Ottawa, January 29, 2026 — Public service experts are sounding the alarm over federal cuts to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), warning that food safety, public health, and Canada’s agri-food economy are being put at serious risk in the name of “efficiency.” The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) is calling for immediate public scrutiny of decisions that are hollowing out the federal government’s capacity to prevent the spread of foodborne illness, respond to disease outbreaks, and protect Canada’s domestic and import/export food systems.
“These cuts don’t just affect public servants – they affect every Canadian who eats,” said Sean O’Reilly, President of PIPSC. “When you strip away food safety research, inspection capacity, and emergency coordination, you increase the risk that disease or contamination goes undetected until people are already sick.”
PIPSC warns that the CFIA has faced chronic staffing shortages for more than a decade, even as its workload has steadily increased. The latest cuts significantly worsen an already fragile system.
“Thousands of food processing plants in Canada have never been inspected,” said O’Reilly. “Inspectors are already struggling to keep up with the facilities they’re responsible for today. Expecting fewer staff to do more inspections is simply unrealistic. In the event of a major outbreak, it spells disaster.”
According to PIPSC, the cuts represent the loss of nearly one million hours of food safety and inspection expertise every year. “CFIA has already trimmed the fat – then they cut muscle. These cuts are to the bone,” O’Reilly said. “They put the entire food safety system, and the economy it supports, at risk.”
Canada’s food and agriculture sector is worth over $100 billion annually, while federal investment in CFIA is roughly $1 billion - a return that PIPSC says is being recklessly undermined.
“This is one of the best investments Canadians make,” said O’Reilly. “Why would we cut food safety when it protects lives, livelihoods, and our economy – especially when Canada is looking to diversify its trading partners?”
The risks are not hypothetical. CFIA is currently managing a nationwide recall of more than 300 pistachio products linked to potential Salmonella contamination from imported products. As of early January 2026, multiple brands across Canada have been affected, and hospitalizations have been reported.
“These cuts directly impact CFIA’s ability to conduct the investigations that lead to life-saving recalls,” said O’Reilly. “Weakening inspection and surveillance capacity means outbreaks last longer and harm more people.”
PIPSC also warns that the cuts severely undermine Canada’s ability to monitor and respond to animal and zoonotic diseases such as avian influenza, African swine fever, bluetongue, and foot-and-mouth disease - capacity that is essential to protecting public health and maintaining international trade.
"Veterinary epidemiologists are a trade requirement", said O’Reilly. “If Canada can’t demonstrate credible disease surveillance and risk analysis, we risk losing export access overnight. There are only a handful of veterinary epidemiologists in Canada - and only dozens globally - with this level of expertise. Without them, trading partners lose confidence, exports are at risk, and industry is forced to absorb massive testing costs.”
At the same time, the CFIA is shifting toward a so-called “business line model” of food safety. While framed as modernization, the model increasingly relies on algorithms, industry self-regulation, and third-party audits, while public inspection capacity continues to erode.
“Food safety is not a business function – it’s a public health responsibility,” said O’Reilly. “When oversight is optimized for efficiency instead of safety, the risk is transferred directly onto the public.”
Canadians have already seen the consequences. A Pickering food processing plant linked to a deadly listeria outbreak in 2023 had not been inspected by the CFIA for five years after an automated risk model based on third-party audits classified it as low risk. The CFIA only discovered the plant wasn’t even testing for listeria - after three people had died.
PIPSC represents over 85,000 public-sector professionals across the country, the majority employed by the federal government. Follow us on Facebook and on Instagram.
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For more information: Johanne Fillion, 613-883-4900 (mobile), jfillion@pipsc.ca