OTTAWA, Ontario – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency could lose nearly 100 food inspectors as part of the Canadian government’s federal budget cuts.

The cuts are to be implemented over three years and will save the CFIA an estimated $56 million in operating costs by 2014-2015, according to the Montreal Gazette. Overall, the agency will cut 308 employees —veterinarians, who inspect animals and verify the safety of meat products, as well as members of the agency’s scientific and analytic group.

Also part of the cuts will be the Ottawa-based unit responsible for approving meat product labels, according to the Gazette. The unit will be replaced with a web-based verification tool.

The budget overall calls for 19,200 job losses in addition to spending cuts expected to produce $5.2 billion in savings with 70 percent from savings in operations.