The Manitoba government has tapped another federal veterinarian to lead its animal health and welfare, food safety and livestock biosecurity programs.
Dr. Megan Bergman, most recently the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s regional director for Manitoba, was named Tuesday as the province’s chief veterinary officer, replacing Dr. Wayne Lees.
Bergman graduated from Saskatoon’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine in 2002 and went into clinical practice in Manitoba before joining CFIAÂ in 2006.
Bergman has led or been involved in regional and national responses on cases of avian influenza, anthrax, anaplasmosis and bovine tuberculosis, the province noted. Her “experience and expertise will help guide our work protecting animal and human health,” Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn said in a release.
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Set up under Lees in 2005, as the first provincial office of its kind in Canada, Manitoba’s chief veterinary office is responsible for responding to all concerns about animal care and welfare, supporting biosecurity efforts, leading disease surveillance and response, collaborating in veterinary public health issues, conducting food safety inspections in provincially licensed facilities, and maintaining traceability and premises ID systems.
Lees, after retiring from the CVO this year, was named to head a provincial working group to help develop local-level food marketing chains in the province with an eye on food safety issues as well as training, production and marketing issues and online sales. [Related story]
Lees, like Bergman, came to the CVO’s job following a stint with CFIA, as a veterinary epidemiologist in the agency’s animal disease surveillance unit. — AGCanada.com Network
