Federal officials tracing out the herdmates of Canada’s 19th domestic case of BSE expect to have their final report on the case ready in late fall. Confirmed Feb. 11 as Canada’s first domestic case of the brain-wasting bovine disease since 2011, Case 19 was born in 2009 on the same northern Alberta farm as Case […] Read more
BSE case’s traceout continues
An unsettling discovery via a cool summer treat
Who would have guessed that propylene glycol is a permitted ingredient in a food product?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Long warm days call for cool refreshing treats such as ice cream. One afternoon I was enjoying a milky bar — ignoring the calories and savouring the apparent goodness — when I glanced at the ingredients on the box. Sugar, fat, cholesterol in mind-numbing percentages were accepted — with a good dose of guilt. What […] Read more
SW Ontario pullet flock’s ILT contained
A warning to southwestern Ontario’s poultry producers in May to step up biosecurity over a non-avian-flu-related disease outbreak has been lifted. The Feather Board Command Centre, the emergency response office for Ontario’s poultry and egg sector boards, last week issued a “stand down” for heightened biosecurity, following an outbreak of avian infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT) in […] Read more
Spate of new EIA cases may up pressure to combat ‘swamp fever’ in horses
Many consider Western Canada to be lax in its efforts to eradicate equine infectious anemia, but that may soon change
Reading Time: 4 minutes A smattering of new cases of equine infectious anemia in Alberta and Saskatchewan may intensify the pressure to implement new, and costly, measures to control the potentially devastating disease. Four cases of the disease (typically called EIA or ‘swamp fever’) have been found in Alberta and two in Saskatchewan this year. The first three Alberta […] Read more
CFIA looking for feedback on food labels, labelling
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is seeking feedback on options to change food labels and the food labelling system. Specific options, such as revising the format of best before dates, expanding food class names (such as vegetable oil or flavour), and changing the required contact information for food dealers are proposed in an online survey […] Read more
Going ‘off label’ is a bad idea all around when it comes to pesticides
You can not only be fined, but also put your customers, the environment and your business at risk
Reading Time: 2 minutes The practice of ‘off-label’ spraying is not only illegal and can result in severe fines, but can also be very dangerous for your clients, your livelihood, and the environment, says a provincial commercial horticulture specialist. “Horticultural chemicals and pesticides often have the dubious distinction of being more expensive than their field crop cousins. In order […] Read more
Canada to check India’s feed corn for aflatoxin
All feed corn coming to Canada from India is now going to be held and tested for aflatoxin, as high levels of the toxins have recently turned up in organic corn from the country. Importers of corn — organic or otherwise — from India, starting immediately, first must sample the corn, upon arrival in Canada […] Read more
Potato ‘fields’ clarified for cross-border trade
Canadian and U.S. food inspectors have agreed on what they mean by a “field” in any restrictions they place on potato trade on account of potato cyst nematodes. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on Tuesday announced new revisions to their Guidelines on Surveillance and Phytosanitary […] Read more
H5N8 avian flu found in Indiana
Reuters — A strain of avian flu that until now had been found only in the western U.S. has cropped up in Indiana, bringing the total number of states affected by the virulent outbreak to 15, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday. The eastward spread of any strain of the highly contagious H5 virus […] Read more
H5N8-positive wild duck found in B.C.
Ongoing surveillance of Canada’s wild birds has turned up the country’s first-ever case of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian flu, in a duck carcass at a British Columbia bird sanctuary. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Friday reported the case to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), noting such a detection in wild birds “should […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
