ST. JOHN’S, Nfld. – A broader ban on the use of specified risk material in animal feed, pet food and fertilizer will take effect July 12 and be implemented by most slaughter plants within 12 months, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has announced.
Smaller operations could have an extra six months to develop a way of handling the tonnes of extra waste material this policy change will create, said CFIA vice-president Krista Mountjoy June 26.
The announcement came moments after the federal and provincial agriculture ministers meeting in the Newfoundland capital had approved the policy.
Read Also
Agriculture ministers agree to AgriStability changes
federal government proposed several months ago to increase the compensation rate from 80 to 90 per cent and double the maximum payment from $3 million to $6 million
The announcement means the industry will have the added cost and complication of disposing of many tonnes of new waste material – tissues from the skull, brain, eyes, tonsils, spinal cords and nerves attached to brains and spinal cords in cattle older than 30 months and a portion of the small intestine from cattle of all ages.
Such specified risk material is thought to cause BSE when ingested.
The federal government has earmarked $80 million to help companies cope and Mountjoy said CFIA also will work with companies looking for alternative uses, including biodiesel production.
In the short term, landfill burial and incineration are the common options.
A number of provincial agriculture ministers said this puts pressure on Ottawa to include funding or incentives for animal waste-based biodiesel plants when it announces a biofuel strategy in the autumn. But Alberta minister Doug Horner, representing the province that will be most affected by the policy announcement, said it is a good move by Ottawa.
“Anything that is going to ensure market access and ensure consumer confidence, we’re supportive of that,” he said in a June 26 interview.
“We want to ensure negative impacts, if any, to the industry are going to be mitigated by other opportunities that might be out there like taking the SRMs and turning them into fuels or other things that can be done.”
Horner said while there are costs and complications for the industry, it was clear the SRM ban was coming and knowing the details allows the industry and provinces to begin planning.
“We also have to sell the positive to the international marketplace,” he said. “This will help us secure markets. Domestically, we have to sell the positives and all the opportunities we can do.”
Mountjoy said the policy announcement comes after broad consultation in Canada and internationally. It follows an earlier recommendation from an international expert panel.
“The government is moving forward to enhance Canada’s feed ban,” she said. “It is requiring the removal of all specified risk material from the system. In so doing, we believe this will provide for enhanced market access and also greater consumer confidence in the system.”
It is the latest move in a policy shift that began in 1997 when SRM material was banned from cattle and ruminant feed. In 2003, it was removed from the human food chain.
The latest ban will take it out of all animal feed, pet food and fertilizer.
“Removing these tissues from all animal feeds will address the risks associated with potential contamination during feed production, distribution and storage, as well as any inappropriate use of feed on farms,” said a CFIA explanation. The pet food and fertilizer ban “is meant to address the potential exposure of cattle to these products.”
Despite the tougher rules, Canada still will allow use in ruminant feed of animal protein from swine, horses and fish, as well as blood, milk and gelatin products from any species and rendered animal fats.
Critics of Canada’s SRM policy have been lobbying for years for the tougher ban but behind the scenes, major international packers like Cargill have been lobbying against any Canadian move that would make rules north of the border tougher than in the United States.
Mountjoy expects an announcement from the U.S. government this summer will move its rules along the same path.
“I suspect they may not stray too, too far from our time frame,” she said. “They are committed to moving ahead with their feed ban strengthening as well.”
