Confusion around CFIA budget cuts

Budget cuts at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency won’t weaken food safety protection, says Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz. “Food safety is a priority for this government,” Ritz told the Commons agriculture committee, adding a big chunk of the planned cost cutting will come from the winding down of the listeria inquiry into the 2008 tainted

Food panel releases first study results

Eating out appears to be a once-a-week occasion for most Manitobans. We have strong views about local food but differing definitions of what “local” means. Most of us have never eaten buckwheat, hemp or flax-based foods. And while a little over 40 per cent of Manitobans buy organic food, an equal number don’t think organic


Healthier diet, less health-care spending

With a dose of government co-operation, Canada’s fruit and vegetable growers believe they can help cure the country’s health-care spending epidemic. Horticulture for Health, or Hort4Health as it likes to bill itself, is a working group of farmers, retailers, food processors and input suppliers that sprouted out of Agriculture Canada’s horticulture value chain roundtable. The

Industry official fights the image of potatoes as fattening

There’s no denying the impact of the image. A morbidly obese woman struggles up a short flight of stairs, while in the forefront of the advertisement are three servings of french fries, growing from modest to mammoth. “Portion sizes have grown, and so has obesity, which leads to many health problems,” reads the headline of


Recipe Swap, March 1, 2012

“Myth information” When it comes to food, we all have our likes, dislikes, preferences and prejudices. Many of us also live (and eat) by our “food myths.” These can be simple “dietary must-dos” like, “you must take minerals and supplements to stay healthy” or, “you must avoid carbs if you want to lose weight.” Some

PRRS can interact with other viruses

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, or PRRS virus, continues to be an issue for Manitoba hog producers. “Manitoba has always been focused on biosecurity on farms, and it continues to be a primary focus through government and industry programs,” said Blaine Tully. “And going forward we continue to focus on biosecurity on farms, primarily focused





Retire redundant regulations rapidly

Too many government farm regulations waste time and do nothing to improve health and safety of consumers, says a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Farmers in Canada are hardest hit by regulations, an alphabet soup of rules including land-use restrictions, product labelling, food safety, border inspection, pesticides and data collection, said Virginia

Precision pork production — a vision of the future

Imagine a finishing barn where each pig receives exactly the right amount of nutrients each day to optimize its growth, maximize the efficiency of nutrient use and minimize the excretion of waste. A barn where sophisticated feeding equipment identifies each pig and delivers a precise dose of blended feed using complex mathematical models to predict