Monitoring Canada's food producers is requiring more hours on the part of inspectors and a greater number of staff, says a memo from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The internal memo, leaked by the food inspectors union, comes less than a week after a Listeria outbreak on March 12, which affected cooked ham sold in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. The bacterial contamination prompted a recall of the product, made by Siena Foods Inc.

The memo, dated Nov. 6, 2009, is a reaction to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) request that Canada match U.S. product safety testing standards.

"As part of Canada's continued efforts to enhance food safety, the CFIA will be providing additional inspectional coverage starting in early November, initially on each 12-hour processing shift in certain establishments processing meat products," the memo says. "This will allow us to better meet the USDA's technical requirements for products exported to the U.S."

The U.S. requirements specifically require that an inspector is present at least every 12 hours in Canadian facilities exporting to the U.S. They were issued after an audit of Canadian inspection procedures by U.S. food safety authorities last summer.

"What they requested is that any facility that exports to the U.S. directly or indirectly requires daily presence," Tom Graham, national inspection manager for the CFIA, told CBC News. "Daily presence does not necessarily mean daily inspection — it means you're present at least every 12 hours in those facilities."

Graham says that with the new changes, Canada now matches the USDA requirements.

New rules boost inspectors' overtime

But what has upset the union is that the new requirements have meant more overtime for inspectors. That's because the "presence" requirement means more people have to be on the job than before, even if they're not necessarily conducting inspections.

And the union representing inspectors says there aren't enough resources to ensure that happens.

"Unless the government makes new investments in food safety, the CFIA will face a choice: ignore the USDA's demands and risk losing access to the U.S. market for Canadian processed meat products, or elevate food contamination risks for Canadian consumers by diverting scarce resources away from other inspection programs," Bob Kingston, president of the Agriculture Union of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said on FoodSafetyFirst.ca, a site authorized by the alliance.

Though the CFIA is hiring 100 new inspectors over the next year, it's a work in progress, Graham concedes, and extra hours are a necessity for inspectors at the moment.

Overall, he says, the measures are being put in place to ensure the system is stronger going forward.

"Many things have to be done in those facilities to ensure the inspection activities are done properly," he said. "We're concerned about food safety."