Do you have what it takes to be a superhero?

Job title: Operational Leader

Code name: Food Fraud Finder

Superpower: Making sure your honey is the real thing

Mission: Using teamwork and science to keep out sneaky sugar syrups that don't bee-long

Nemesis: Fake honey

Fun fact: Honey must be 100% made by bees to be legally sold in Canada. If it's not, it might be food fraud!

Job title: National Veterinary Specialist

Code name: Doctor Food Defender

Superpower: Detecting, controlling and preventing foodborne illnesses

Mission: To make sure food imported into Canada is safe and to keep food animals like cows, pigs and chickens free from harm and injury

Nemesis: Contaminated food

Fun fact: More than 200 diseases are spread through food worldwide.

Job title: Food Safety Recall Specialist

Code name: Mister Don't Eat That

Superpower: Figuring out which foods are safe to eat and which ones need to be removed from the shelves at your grocery store

Mission: To make sure food recalls are announced at lightning speed

Nemesis: People who don't follow the CFIA on social media or subscribe to recall emails

Fun fact: The CFIA's Office of Food Safety and Recall oversees about 220 recall incidents every year.

Job title: Food Safety Technical Assessor

Code name: Super Sickness Stopper

Superpower: Identifying food that can make you sick

Mission: To make sure grocery store shelves are stocked with safe food

Nemesis: People who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom

Fun science fact: Our Office of Food Safety and Recall has seen some wacky things in food, like a pencil in a loaf of bread! We're always working to keep families like yours informed about food recalls.

Job title: National Issues Manager

Code name: Optimistic Connection Octopus

Superpower: Juggling many priorities, with lots of arms!

Mission: To stop the threats to Canada's food, plants and animals

Nemesis: Lack of collaboration in the workplace

Fun fact: Octopuses have 3 hearts, blue blood and…9 brains! The central brain controls the nervous system, and the mini-brains within each of their arms control movement.

Job title: Financial Officer

Code name: Driver of the Costing Mobile

Superpower: Managing money during emergencies and outbreaks

Mission: To ensure funds are counted and documented

Nemesis: Losing count!

Fun fact: Bacteria are everywhere, and they're on everything! Coins and paper bills carry thousands of microorganisms that can survive for weeks.

Job title: Operational Leader

Code name: Food Recall Know-it-All

Superpower: Writing inspection procedures at super speed

Mission: To make sure all food recalls follow procedure, so Canadians get information as fast as possible

Nemesis: People who don't follow directions!

Fun fact: Science always surrounds us, even in small ways. Baking a cake is a lab experiment!

Job title: Project Coordinator

Code name: Eccentric Corporate Entrepreneur

Superpower: Experimenting with technology

Mission: To solve inefficient processes with innovative solutions like apps and videos

Nemesis: The status quo

Fun fact: The rate of change today is the slowest you will ever experience. Think about it: things will develop over the next 10 years as much as they did over the last 50 years!

Job title: Emergency Procurement and Contracting Officer

Code name: Caped Crisis Crusader

Superpower: Staying calm under pressure

Mission: To equip the CFIA's superhero squad with the tools and equipment they need to work safely during emergencies

Nemesis: Delivery delays

Fun fact: As of April 2022, the CFIA bought over 28 million pieces of protective equipment (like masks, face shields and gloves) to help protect employees during COVID-19.

Job title: Legislative Officer

Code name: Plant Health Operative

Superpower: Stopping harmful insects from crossing the border with the help of my trusted scope

Mission: Develop regulations to keep pests out of Canada

Nemesis: Ice cream stands (which tend to distract from my mission)

Fun fact: Contrary to money, plant pests can grow on trees!

Job title: Veterinarian

Code name: Doctor Mega-Prion Finder

Superpower: Detecting animals with prion (infectious protein) diseases

Mission: To make sure all animals, big and small, are healthy and disease-free

Nemesis: Prions

Fun fact: Prions are the most stubborn infectious agents on the planet. That makes my job super tough!

Job title: Mental Health and Wellness Advisor

Code name: Wellness Warrior

Superpower: Spreading human connection through social support

Mission: To give everyone the tools they need to feel their best each day

Nemesis: Stigma and micro-aggressions

Fun fact: Research shows being kind can reduce stress, and improve emotional well-being and physical health. Anyone can be a hero!

Job title: Veterinary Epidemiologist

Code name: Valiant Veterinarian

Superpower: Finding patterns in disease data

Mission: To protect animals from deadly viruses

Nemesis: Thinking that's not based on facts

Fun fact: There are more virus particles on Earth than stars in the universe. Thankfully, many are harmless!

Job title: Resource and Reporting Officer

Code name: Renowned Recruiter

Superpower: Creating staffing solutions to hire new CFIA superheroes

Mission: To find the best and brightest talent

Nemesis: Paperwork

Fun fact: There's enough DNA in the average human body to stretch from the sun to Pluto and back… 17 times!

Job title: Science Analyst

Code name: Fearless Food Protector

Superpower: Searching the world for new information about food safety risks

Mission: To track food safety issues around the world and detect emerging food hazards

Nemesis: Bacteria, viruses and parasites that try to sneak into our food

Fun fact: We use tools that can scan more than 10,000 sources of food-related information from around the world.

Job title: Project Manager

Code name: Indestructible Innovator

Superpower: Using my positive attitude to convince my team that we can achieve the impossible

Mission: To work towards a common goal

Nemesis: Poor communication

Fun fact: If you're claustrophobic, keep green apples handy. Their smell can alter your perception of space, making rooms appear larger than they actually are.

Job title: Science Authority

Code name: Plant Analytics Wizard

Superpower: Creating analysis plans in a flash

Mission: To make sure other plant health superheroes have the right information to make good decisions

Nemesis: Typos

Fun fact: If you spend 10-12 minutes planning your day, you'll save up to 2 hours of time that would have otherwise gone to waste. That's why planning is so important!

Job title: Co-Chair of the CFIA's National Indigenous Advisory Circle

Code name: Indigenous Illuminator

Superpower: Bringing light to historical truths

Mission: To ensure Indigenous perspectives and needs are considered in the Agency

Nemesis: Systemic racism

Fun fact: Indigenous peoples' knowledge and experience with plants has helped researchers develop new medicines. For example, the active ingredient in Aspirin was discovered by Indigenous peoples from the bark of the willow tree.

Job title: Inspector Specialist

Code name: Master Food Tracker

Superpower: Tracing your food's journey, from farm to fork

Mission: To make sure everyone in the food chain follows the rules

Nemesis: Bad bacteria like Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli

Fun fact: Bacteria are so small that they can only be seen with a microscope. The first microscope was invented way back in 1668!

Job title: Meat Hygiene Inspector

Code name: Beef Whisperer

Superpower: Finding out why and how some diseases harm beef animals

Mission: To inspect Canadians' beef and make sure it's safe

Nemesis: Pathogens in our beef, like E. coli and Salmonella

Fun fact: Did you know that 40% of Canada's cow population is in Alberta?

Job title: Evaluation Analyst

Code name: Miraculous Evaluator

Superpower: Analyzing programs and policies

Mission: To continuously improve CFIA programs and keep them running smoothly for Canadians

Nemesis: Corrupted files

Fun fact: As powerful as modern computers are, they're still no match for our brains! A computer comparable to the human brain would have the ability to perform over 38 thousand trillion operations per second, and store over 3500 terabytes of memory.

Job title: Food Processing Specialist Inspector

Code name: Food Police

Superpower: Knowing when food is clean (and when it's not)

Mission: To be on the case while ensuring food is safe for all Canadians

Nemesis: Freaky finds and strange things in our food

Fun fact: Canada is one of the top 10 importers of food. We bring in most of it from our neighbours in the United States.

Job title: Veterinarian

Code name: Animal Super Healer

Superpower: Identifying sick animals

Mission: Making sure no sick animals travel and spread disease

Nemesis: Pathogenic microbes that infect people or animals, like viruses, bacteria, mycobacteria and fungi

Fun fact: About 60 percent of all human diseases, and 75 percent of all emerging infectious diseases, are zoonotic. That means they jump from animals (like pigs, cows and birds) to people.

Job title: Executive Director

Code name: Science Data Dazzler

Superpower: Putting ideas into action

Mission: To use science to make important decisions

Nemesis: Disorganization

Fun fact: Less than 0.5% of all data that humans create is ever analyzed and used.

Job title: Student

Code name: Super Social Storyteller

Superpower: Transforming thoughts into stories and publishing your voice to the masses

Mission: To make sure all CFIA superheroes everywhere are heard loud and clear

Nemesis: Google Translate

Fun fact: Chances are you wouldn't know about the important work of CFIA superheroes without our help telling their stories!

Job title: Programmer

Code name: Predictive Developer

Superpower: Seeing into the future to know what forms need to be created

Mission: To improve the digital environment at CFIA superhero HQ

Nemesis: Paper forms

Fun fact: There are over 700 different programming languages.

Job title: Applications Analyst

Code name: Adventurous App Analyst

Superpower: Making online applications for Agency's employees and Canadians

Mission: To build user-friendly tools that help other CFIA superheroes fight their nemeses

Nemesis: Application bugs

Fun fact: Our Digital Service Delivery Platform application supports about 2,000 employees and 18,000 Canadians.

Job title: Veterinary Pathologist

Code name: Fantastic Fracture Finder

Superpower: Studying bones

Mission: To ensure animals that cannot walk do not get transported across the country

Nemesis: People who don't know how to safely move injured animals

Fun fact: You can find out the age of a fractured bone by studying the lesions (damaged areas).

Job title: Ship Inspector

Code name: Insect Investigator

Superpower: Using my special pest vision

Mission: To keep a balanced environment by finding the tiniest invasive bugs and stopping them in their tracks

Nemesis: Tiny insect hitchhikers

Fun fact: A bug that we think is "good" in our own environment could be a supervillain in places where it doesn't belong.

Job title: Feed Microscopy and Bioanalysis Biologist

Code name: Guardian of the Food Chain

Superpower: Seeing the world with microscopic vision

Mission: To make sure food is safe for animals and humans

Nemesis: Germs that contaminate food

Fun fact: A compound microscope can make tiny objects, like cells or crystals, appear up to 1,000 times bigger than they really are. That's like making an ant look as big as a human!

Job title: President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)

Code name: Wise One

Superpower: Using scientific evidence to solve complex issues

Mission: To lead the CFIA in the protection of our food, plants and animals

Nemesis: Disrespect in the workplace

Fun fact: I hold a Ph.D. in Psychopharmacology. Did you know that the world's oldest prescriptions were etched into tablets around 2100 B.C.? Pharmacies and drugstores have been around for a long time!

Job title: Science Analyst

Code name: Collaboration Champion

Superpower: Solving scientific problems with the help of an international network of superheroes

Mission: To tackle some of the world's biggest challenges by sharing knowledge and working together

Nemesis: Lone rangers

Fun fact: Two–or many–heads are better than one! Take the Human Genome Project, for example. An international team of researchers joined forces to map and understand all the genes of human beings. All our genes together are known as our "genome."

Job title: Inspector

Code name: Produce Protector

Superpower: Spotting produce that doesn't meet Canadian requirements

Mission: To make sure you can buy and eat safe, high-quality fresh fruits and vegetables year-round

Nemesis: People who don't wash produce before eating it

Fun fact: Apples are one of the only fruits that float in water. That's because 25% of their volume is air!

Job title: Virology Technician

Code name: Wholesome Ivy

Superpower: Identifying sick plants and finding the cause

Mission: To protect tissue culture plants from invading bacteria and fungus

Nemesis: Bad light, temperature and humidity conditions

Fun fact: Unlike plants, fungi can't make their own food through photosynthesis. They feed on what surrounds them, like plant roots, leaves, wood and soil nutrients.

Job title: Veterinary Program Officer and Epidemiologist

Code name: Animal Disease Detective

Superpower: Investigating the "who, what, where, when, how" of animal disease outbreaks

Mission: To find out how animals become ill, and to stop the disease from spreading

Nemesis: Germs that make animals sick, like Avian Influenza (bird flu)

Fun fact: Cows like the taste of old batteries. If you leave an old car battery in a field, a cow could eat it and become sick with lead poisoning.