The union representing government scientists is calling for an immediate freeze on the deregulation of food inspection.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, which represents 55,000 public servants, says allowing industry to police itself puts people at risk.

Months before listeria-tainted meat from the Maple Leaf plant in the Toronto area began claiming lives, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency adopted a policy that meat inspectors now say removed clear language that required companies to report any positive listeria tests directly to inspectors.

CFIA inspectors told the CBC and the Toronto Star that on April 1 that they essentially became auditors of the companies' paperwork, which is part of the compliance verification system. CVS details the measures the country's 198 meat processing plants must adopt to ensure they're operating safely.

"Prior to April 1, [any positive listeria tests] would have had to have been, not only brought to the inspector's attention, but the inspector would have been involved in overseeing the cleanup," Bob Kingston, head of the union representing CFIA inspectors, said last month.

"The CFIA would have been doing their own testing to validate the success of the cleanup. But after April 1, with the changes they brought in, none of that happened. They weren't required to bring their cleanup activities to the inspector's attention, [and] they wouldn't have been required to bring a failed cleanup attempt to the inspector's attention, or repeated positives."

On Monday, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada called for an independent judicial inquiry into this summer's deadly listeriosis outbreak at the Maple Leaf Foods plant.

The plant was shut down in August after being linked to an outbreak that has killed 20 people across the country.

"Listeriosis is only the tip of the iceberg of the dangers deregulation is opening up in this country," Michele Demers, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, said in a release.

"By eliminating rules and handing responsibility for safety to industry in sectors like transportation, food and consumer products, the federal government is playing fast and loose" with Canadians' health and safety, he said.

The union says federal consumer protection legislation is outdated and needs to be changed to give inspectors the power to recall unsafe products.

The union also wants Ottawa to set aside money to hire more inspectors and for research.

With files from the Canadian Press