Please, let’s not win again

Traceability is a fact of life for almost every other commodity that consumers buy; yet somehow we have not embraced traceability’s potential in the world of food. I cannot buy an iPhone that does not have complete traceability back to its basic components; yet what we put into our bodies is rarely traceable to source.

Trouble on the trade front

The federal government has issued a long list of U.S. imports that could be targeted for retaliation if Canada’s biggest trading partner fails to comply with the WTO ruling on its country-of-origin labelling rules. That list of 40 or so items includes live cattle and pigs, meat products, corn, processed foods containing spent fowl, chocolate,



LIVESTOCK-Cattle futures gain on short-covering

* Short-covering buoys cattle futures * Feeders follow cattle higher * Hogs gain on strong cash markets By Sam Nelson CHICAGO, June 6 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures closed higher on Thursday on technical short-covering and despite wholesale beef markets that eased again from recent record highs, traders and analysts said.


Ottawa begins to roll out new food safety measures and rules

New rules call for more timely and detailed reporting of problems and labels to let consumers know when meat has been mechanically tenderized

Almost a year after announcing its intention to overhaul national food safety rules, the federal government has unveiled the first of many measures it plans to implement through 2014. Among the new measures going into effect on July 2 is mandatory labelling of steaks and roasts that have been mechanically tenderized — a process that

LIVESTOCK-U.S. live cattle futures slump in fund selloff

* Wholesale beef price setback weighs * CME hogs up on cash, Smithfield news By Theopolis Waters CHICAGO, May 30 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle slumped on Thursday as futures fell below technical support triggering fund liquidation, traders and analysts said. CME live cattle June dropped beneath the respective 40-day and 20-day moving


The painful BSE crisis has led to a major overhaul of Canada’s food safety system

The food safety system has changed dramatically since the so-called mad cow crisis 
grabbed headlines and closed the border a decade ago

Ten years have passed since Canadians learned that bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), better known as mad cow disease, had been discovered in an Alberta dairy cow. It was a bombshell that closed the border to beef exports, and caused painful financial losses to cattle producers even though Canadians kept buying domestic beef. While BSE didn’t



LIVESTOCK-US live cattle prices gain on futures’ discount to cash

* Feeder cattle follow CME live cattle higher * Hogs mixed, pork price drop stirs bear spreads By Theopolis Waters CHICAGO, May 28 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle rose modestly on Tuesday, aided by futures' discount to recent cash prices, traders and analysts said. CME live cattle also drew support from the uptick

LIVESTOCK-US live cattle prices gain on futures’ discount to cash

* Feeder cattle follow CME live cattle higher * Hogs mixed, pork price drop stirs bear spreads By Theopolis Waters CHICAGO, May 28 (Reuters) - Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle rose modestly on Tuesday, aided by futures' discount to recent cash prices, traders and analysts said. CME live cattle also drew support from the uptick