There was good news for canola growers and crushers last week, as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lifted import restrictions against canola meal shipped from Cargill’s plant in Clavet, Sask.
“We are in the process of resuming full trade with our valued customers in the U.S.,” Cargill spokesperson Robert Meijer said in an e-mail.
Starting in 2008 and over the course of 2009, six Canadian crushing plants have been subject to an “import alert,” which allows FDA inspectors to refuse admission of a product with no physical inspection.
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The U.S. agency said meal shipped from the plants, including three operated by Bunge, one by Viterra and one by Leblanc & Lafrance in Quebec, were contaminated with salmonella.
No details were released by either the FDA or Cargill as to what prompted last week’s decision to lift the ban at the Cargill plant.
The U.S. is by far the biggest market for canola meal, used as livestock feed, so the border restrictions had a significant impact on industry operations and revenues.
Exports of canola meal to the U.S. for the first nine months of 2009 were 1.22 million tonnes, down from 1.84 million in the same period in 2008.
In the week ending Dec. 9, canola crushing plants operated at 75 percent capacity, compared with 94 percent a year earlier.
The decline in exports to the U.S. was partially made up by sales to overseas markets, but those are more costly and less profitable for the crushers.
Canola growers have also felt the impact of the closed border.
Stan Jeeves, a canola grower from Wolseley and president of the Saskatchewan Canola Growers Association, recently estimated the cost to producers at $10 to $12 a tonne.
Some canola industry officials said the issue isn’t that Canadian canola plants suddenly became contaminated with salmonella.
They say the FDA tightened its tolerances in the wake of recent cases of contamination of human food such as peanuts and fresh vegetables.
There have been no announcements regarding the status of import alerts at Bunge and Viterra.
Neither FDA officials nor the designated spokesperson for Bunge could be reached for comment.
