Mentoring food and business skills among a younger generation, and closer connection to consumers are some of the benefits that will come from improving the business environment for smaller-scale direct marketers, said proponents at MAFRD-hosted consultations across Manitoba.  PHOTO: LORRAINE STEVENSON

Small-scale producers want regs re-evaluated

Supply management limits and restrictions on advertising were among the concerns

Producers attending public consultations on small-scale food production last week had a consistent message — the current system prohibits their success, and food safety rules and regulations need to be re-evaluated. Not everyone is so lucky. Monika Zinn, a small-scale mixed-livestock producer in Springfield, raises and directly markets chickens. She was not grandfathered. She said

photo: istock

CFIA beefs up food safety rules and sets minimum traceability standards

Food companies and farms selling products in other provinces or internationally will need detailed preventive control plans

Traceability will gain a more prominent place on the menu, and food companies will be required to develop preventive control plans under a new regulatory plan proposed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The proposals, which follow the passage of the Safe Food for Canadians Act last fall, still have to be put into the


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

Mechanically tenderized meats will have to be labelled

As of July 2, federally inspected meat plants in Canada will be required to label beef steaks or roasts that have been mechanically tenderized, the federal government announced May 17. The move is part of new mandatory federal requirements designed to strengthen control over E. coli. Contaminated needles used to mechanically tenderize meat were identified


Food industry wants say in new legislation

Food safety is a job for the companies that make food, and government should focus on setting nutrition and health standards and policing the industry. That’s the pitch being made by large processors as the federal government prepares to revamp food-safety legislation. “Let’s not lose perspective: We can’t regulate bugs out of our food,” said

Cautious Approach Urged In EU Trade Talks

“(Canadian farmers) would be forgiven for suggesting that the standard of support in the EU is risk elimination.” – TRADE CONSULTANT PETER CLARK Acautious approach to negotiating the agriculture component of a free trade agreement with the European Union is needed, warns trade expert Peter Clark. Clark’s observations about the trade talks came as the


Prairie Hay To Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Arabia’s plan to phase out production of water-intensive crops including animal fodder has opened the doors for multimillion dollar deals with firms in the United States and Canada, traders said Mar. 29. Saudi-based Al-Khumasia Company, plans to launch its $40 million crushing and packaging feed mill in July, Meshaal Al-Wetaid, its assistant general manager

Russia Approves Pork From 11 U. S. Plants

Russia on March 11 approved 11 U. S. pork plants to resume pork shipments to that country and more plants may be approved, the U. S. Meat Export Federation told Reuters. “It is happening as we speak,” U. S. Meat Export Federation spokesman Jim Herlihy said of the approvals. The lifting of the ban on


No Escape For Government Bodies In Listeria Report

Health Canada, the Public Health Agency and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have all been cited for contributing to a breakdown in the food inspection system during last summer’s deadly listeria outbreak. To prevent a repeat of it, special investigator Sheila Weatherill proposed 57 recommendations to improve food safety. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said they

Government’s Role In Fixing The Mess

You don’t need to be really sophisticated to see that we’ve messed up bad as a species. 2008 provided the ultimate proof, if it was needed. The financial crisis engulfing the world didn’t happen by accident. It was caused by human stupidity, primarily the stupidity of elected officials who fell for the line that the