Most of the time, the systems that keep our food safe are working quietly in the background. Families cook. Restaurants serve meals. A commuter grabs a sandwich at a corner store. Most of us never think about the inspections, testing, and monitoring that make that normalcy possible.

But when prevention fails, the consequences are immediate and human. People get sick. Hospitalizations follow. Sometimes, they die.

In Canada, food safety is overseen by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, whose inspectors, scientists, and investigators work every day to identify risks, test food, trace contamination, and stop unsafe products before they reach people’s plates.

Food safety only becomes visible when it breaks.

As one example among thousands, a nationwide recall was recently issued for possible E. coli contamination in multiple varieties of Pizza Pops. These are not specialty products. They are inexpensive, widely distributed, and often eaten by children. They........

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