An off-the-cuff remark by Galen Weston at the Canadian Food Summit has enraged the farmers’ markets community and local food lovers.

“Farmers’ markets are great. . . ,” Weston said Tuesday during a speech to about 600 people at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, but added: “One day they’re going to kill some people though.”

Weston is executive chairman of Loblaw Cos. Ltd, Canada’s largest food retailer, with more than 1,000 stores.

He was talking about building a long-term vision for food in Canada and how to capitalize on the demand for local food. Food inspections are crucial, he insisted.

Robert Chorney, the executive director of Farmers’ Markets Ontario, had to wait until the next session’s comment period for a chance to speak out.

“We strenuously object” to Weston’s remark, he told the delegates. “That was awful.”

Chorney later added: “What (Weston) said was really saddening. It really put a damper on the day for some of us.”

Ontario’s 175 farmers’ markets do more than $700 million in sales every year. Markets are regularly inspected and food is easily traceable because consumers know who they’re buying from, said Chorney. The association says that four surveys since 1998 have shown that 83 per cent of respondents feel market food is as safe or safer than supermarket food.

Weston’s comment set off a series of angry tweets under the hashtag #FS2012.

“A question for Galen Weston Jr: Have you ever been to a farmers’ market?” tweeted Gail Gordon Oliver, publisher and editor of Edible Toronto. “Have you ever REALLY spoken to a farmer?”

“Bold (and unfounded?!?) comment from Galen Weston: one day produce from farmers markets will kill us,” tweeted Sara Zborovski, a lawyer who focuses on regulatory and intellectual property issues in the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries.

The two-day summit is being put on by the Conference Board of Canada, and Loblaws is the top sponsor. The event attracted people from government, agri-businesses, farms and community food organizations.

Some delegates whispered among themselves on coffee breaks that supermarkets sell most of the food that’s recalled by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). They reminded one another that it was Maple Leaf Foods and a Toronto meat plant — not a farmers’ market — that was at the centre of a 2008 listeria outbreak that left 23 people dead and led to a major recall.

Bob Chant, Loblaw Cos.’s senior vice-president of corporate affairs, later elaborated on Weston’s “side comment,” stressing it was made in the context of food inspections.

“The point is about food safety, not about whether farmers’ markets are good,” Chant said. “His thinking is that we need to make inspections happen throughout the entire system.”

Farmers’ Markets Ontario works with Ontario’s 36 public health units, each of which has a “champion” responsible for markets. It has a food safety manual on its website. Toronto Public Health inspects farmers’ markets.

The CFIA manages about 235 food recalls by manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers each year. When the product poses a serious health risk, it issues a public warning.

Spokesperson Guy Gravelle said the vast majority of recalls involve supermarkets and grocery stores, but the agency will investigate complaints linked to mom-and-pop shops and farmers’ markets. He didn’t have statistics available.

Canadian food activist Anita Stewart, a farmers’ market enthusiast who has worked at a grassroots level and with government, said retail operations are heavily inspected and she was willing to cut Weston some slack for his comment.

“I think his speech, by and large, was very eloquent and he has a lot to say,” Stewart said. “I think he just slipped up and I truly don’t believe that he meant it.”

Arlene Stein is director of community programs for Evergreen Brick Works, which runs a year-round Saturday farmers’ market with about 80 vendors. She was sick and couldn’t attend the food summit, but noted that supermarkets like Loblaws are promoting their organic and “fresh local” lines.

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Her theory on Weston’s comment? “Farmers’ markets are the competition.”

jbain@thestar.ca

www.twitter.com/thesaucylady