By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com
The Senate of Canada’s agriculture committee amended a new food safety bill Thursday that would require the federal agriculture minister to review the Safe Food for Canadians Act every five years to ensure that food inspectors have the resources they need in order to enforce food safety regulations. The Conservative majority Senate voted in favour of the amendment put forward by Conservative Senator Don Plett.The Senate also voted down an amendment proposed by Liberal Senator Bob Peterson that would have had the auditor general conduct the assessment rather than the minister. Paterson criticized the amendment arguing that the minister would have a conflict of interest reviewing the bill and that it would be best served if that was something the auditor general would oversee instead. The bill still needs to pass the House of Commons before it becomes law.