CFIA temporarily closes XL plant

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has temporarily shut one of the country’s largest meatpacking plants after contaminated beef products, that were distributed across Canada and the United States, are believed to have sickened several people. The operators of privately held XL Foods’ plant in Brooks, Alberta have not done enough to prevent contamination by

Farm accident results in $50,000 fine

A Carberry-area potato farm has been fined nearly $50,000 following an investigation into a serious farm accident on Sept. 18, 2010. The 15-year-old girl, a seasonal worker at ShellMark Farms Ltd., had attempted to straddle a moving conveyor belt by placing her foot on the north-side lip of the conveyor when she lost her balance.


Federal food laws face overhaul

The Harper government is putting the finishing touches to a major revamp of federal food laws to make processors and manufacturers more responsible for food safety while inspectors focus on the risky segments of the business. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz is expected to present the legislation, known unofficially as the Food Act, to Parliament sometime

CFIA applies new rules to food importers

Two years after admitting that it didn’t have a registry of food importers, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is finally proposing to introduce a licensing regime for the estimated 25,000 businesses, which bring foreign-made food or beverages into Canada. The government announced a Food and Consumer Safety Action Plan in 2007, which was to include measures


Some federal budget cuts don’t add up for farmers: CFA

Some program cuts at Agriculture Canada resulting from the 2012 budget aren’t in the best interest of farmers and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is going to press for changes. “Some of the cuts do make sense because they get rid of duplication,” president Ron Bonnett said in an interview. But terminating regional adaptation councils

Flax plant’s future up in the air

The flames that consumed the Glanbia flax-processing plant south of Angusville were doused last week, but a smouldering sense of uncertainty lingers. The plant formerly owned by Glen and Linda Pizzey was the largest employer in the RM of Silver Creek, providing not only 58 good-paying, full-time jobs, but also a large chunk of the


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

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


Uncertainty surrounds food safety legislation

The food industry wants meaningful consultations with the federal government while it’s preparing new food safety legislation, but so far is only being served promises of more advisory committee meetings. Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz plans to introduce legislation in 2012 to overhaul the roles of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Health Canada, and the Public

Learn from every safety incident on the farm

Farming and ranching can be a dangerous occupation. That’s why it is so important to track and check each safety incident and learn from it — so that you can prevent it from happening again. The Canadian Agricultural Injury Reporting program (CAIR) reports an average of 115 people are killed by farm-related incidents every year,