Thirdly, as far as the environmental dimension of rural development, striking an ecological balance, food standards and so on are concerned, the European Union must lobby for a common clause for all countries based on its standards.

On the contrary, we emphasise the need to adopt and comply with ever stricter control procedures throughout the entire animal food cycle (feedingstuffs, medicinal products, processing of foods of animal origin etc.) so that the system for producing foods of animal origin can be controlled as tightly as possible. Not, of course, that we are labouring under the misapprehension that controls which fully guarantee the safety of the food produced are possible in a capitalist system.

– (IT) Mr President, the wholesomeness of feed materials and feedingstuffs is, of course, very important to the Pensioners' Party, and so I voted for the Paulsen report.

In order to offset these omissions, the proposal aims to stipulate that Commission and Member State experts should have the possibility of carrying out inspections not only within the Community but also in third countries, particularly following the emergence of a phenomenon likely to have an adverse effect on the fitness for consumption of animal feeding stuffs marketed within the Community; that a safeguard procedure should be set up and that the Commission should have the opportunity, if necessary, to assign Community experts to the site in order to check whether Community regulations are being observed and to take any appropriate me ...[+++]asures necessary; that the Commission should be responsible for adopting specific coordinated inspection programmes, in addition to the general programmes already stipulated by Directive 95/53/EC, in the event of unexpected contamination which may represent an imminent and serious risk to human and animal health.

Having an industry that is equally committed to food safety, having producers who are stewards of the food safety system at the ground level, at the farm level, is equally part of having a robust food safety system in the country, as well as having retailers who are intimately interested in ensuring that the products on their shelves are safe and are part of our consumer education outreach.

Investments in Canada's food safety system help to modernize the CFIA's food inspection system, update its program and regulatory frameworks and strengthen its relationship with Canadians, industry and international food safety stakeholders.