A program that monitors contaminants in moose and caribou in the three northern territories should be expanded to include Nunavik and Labrador, researcher Mary Gamberg says.

The program started in the Yukon 12 years ago when Gamberg began looking for cadmium, lead, mercury and other contaminants in the territory's moose and caribou.

It was expanded to Nunavut and the Northwest Territories in 2005.

Now Gamberg would like to include Nunavik and Labrador as well.

"This is to make it a more coherent, cohesive program so that we can say, 'All across the Arctic, yes, the caribou are good and, yes, we're monitoring it on an ongoing basis, we'll let you know if there's a problem,'" Gamberg told CBC News Monday.

"So we're really wanting to just reassure people that their traditional food, at least these traditional foods, are clean and safe to eat."

However, people should not eat too many kidneys or livers, she said.

A one-week training program to teach community members from the Yukon, N.W.T. and Nunavut about the basics of the contaminants program will be held in Whitehorse in February, she said.