Livestock
Health Canada will allow meat packers to use a combination of preservatives that help control listeria bacteria in ready-to-eat meats. The department announced Saturday in the Canada Gazette that it will issue an interim marketing authorization for the use of sodium diacetate and sodium acetate in meat products. The interim authorization will allow the products’ […] Read more
Feds eye allowing two new meat preservatives
N.S. producers get hay and forage hotline
Nova Scotia livestock producers can now try to source hay and other forages for their animals from other farmers using a new toll-free phone line. “Many farmers have been affected by poor weather this year and do not have enough feed for their livestock for the coming winter,” Agriculture Minister Brooke Taylor said in a […] Read more
Quebec to back meat plant construction
The Quebec government plans to put up $440,000 for construction of a new meat processing facility in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region. Agriculture Minister Laurent Lessard on Tuesday announced the funding for the Centre de transformation de la viande du Bas-Saint-Laurent (or CTV for short), which is expected to start processing sheep and cattle in December. The […] Read more
N.S. poultry plant scores $3.5M loan
Nova Scotia’s provincial government plans to invest $3.5 million in working capital for the province’s sole major poultry processing plant. ACA Co-operative of New Minas, just east of Kentville, will be able to maintain its payroll of 650 employees and a like number of spin-off jobs, the province said in a release Friday. “This sole […] Read more
Sow cull falls short of target: CPC
(Resource News International) — The Canadian Pork Council’s first-ever breeding swine cull program will fall short of its target to reduce the Canadian swine breeding herd by 10 per cent, equivalent to roughly 150,000 sows. However, a spokesperson for the council said it’s not disappointed about having missed that amount. Under the Cull Breeding Swine […] Read more
Alta. feedlots must report cattle on move
Feedlots in Alberta will soon be required to record and report cattle move-in information to the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency. In a newsletter released Thursday, the provincial ag department said the new requirement will kick in on Jan. 1, 2009, requiring this information to be recorded as cattle arrive and reported to the CCIA within […] Read more
Ritz’s listeria cracks should cost job: Grits
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz’s comments on the listeriosis outbreak have the federal Liberals again calling for his resignation, this time over “inappropriate and insensitive” wisecracks on a conference call. Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter cited a Canadian Press report Wednesday that quoted Ritz on an Aug. 30 call with staff from the federal agriculture and […] Read more
Maple Leaf reopens deep-cleaned Toronto plant
Following six “intensive sanitizations” to wipe out any trace of listeria, Maple Leaf Foods is restarting production at its Bartor Road meat processing plant in Toronto. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said Wednesday it has allowed Maple Leaf to start “limited production” so it can assess and verify the new processes put in place […] Read more
Cattle and hog industries prepare for COOL
(Resource News International) — The Canadian livestock industry has essentially prepared itself as much as possible for the pending implementation of the U.S. government’s controversial country-of-origin-labelling (COOL) legislation at the end of the month, according to officials from the cattle and hog industries. “There had been much apprehension about the implementation, but recent changes to […] Read more
Corn ethanol will cost Ont. economy: report
Ontario’s economy can expect to take a bath of around $150 million annually from the development of its corn ethanol sector, the George Morris Centre warns in a new report. The Guelph-based ag think tank said in a report Tuesday that a $150 million net cost to the economy will be borne mostly by the […] Read more
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