Meat project processors selected

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Published: March 10, 2011

Robert Lundquist can sell meat on one side of his city, but not legally on the other.

The president of Diamond 7 Meats in Lloydminster hopes to change that by participating in an interprovincial meat trade pilot project.

Diamond 7, a meat processor located on the Saskatchewan side of the city that straddles the Alberta border, Western Prime Meat Processors of Weyburn, Sask., and Drake Meat Processors at Drake, Sask., were selected for the pilot.

Nineteen Canadian companies applied to be part of the project. Saskatchewan and Ontario announced last week which of its processors had been selected and other provinces will follow suit.

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Federal and provincial agriculture ministers agreed in 2010 to conduct the pilot to try to standardize the varying meat inspection systems across the country.

Plants that are not inspected by a federal inspector cannot sell product outside their provincial boundaries.

A provincial health inspector, for example, inspects Diamond 7. That prevents it from doing business even on the Alberta side of Lloydminster.

Lundquist admits he has been an agitator when it comes to changing the century-old Canada Meat Act.

“We are in (federal) minister (Gerry) Ritz’s riding here,” he said. “We have been pushing a lot of buttons because we sit in a situation in Lloydminster where we do a lot of business within the city.”

Although it’s illegal to sell to the Alberta side, Lundquist said it happens every day.

Diamond 7 has exemptions from Ottawa, Saskatchewan and Alberta to do business within Lloydminster but is still going against Canadian Food Inspection Agency regulations.

“From the CFIA’s point of view we don’t have (permission),” he said. “It’s very controversial and has been for a long time. This is one of the reasons this is trying to get sorted out.”

The situation gets more complicated.

If the Alberta owners of a steer bring it to Diamond 7 for butchering and processing and take it back home, that is allowed.

In fact, Lundquist has shipped meat to the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and British Columbia for personal consumption.

If the Alberta cattle owners also have a restaurant and want to use meat from their herd on the menu, that’s not allowed.

Lundquist got his exemption for an Alberta retail operation that has its own cattle.

“The CFIA don’t like it but we have got government letters saying we’re going to allow this in the interim,” he said.

The first few months of the pilot project will be taken up with provincial and federal bureaucrats examining the selected plants. Then, a written policy will follow and that could take into next year.

While Lundquist hopes the outcome will be the ability to trade within Canada, he said it could also result in a directive to become federally inspected. That would force upon his business a lot of costs he can’t afford.

“We know there’s some risks to us,” he said.

The two governments are putting up two-thirds of the money for the pilot, essentially paying their officials to evaluate the plants and write policy changes.

Saskatchewan agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud said the province was budgeting between $300,000 and $500,000 for its share.

The project is cost-shared on a 60 percent federal, 40 percent provincial basis and Ottawa has budgeted up to $3 million for the entire Canada-wide project.

The participants are also responsible for a share of any upgrading costs and implementing food safety programs.

Bjornerud too hopes that the pilot will result in a standardized inspection system that allows wider trade and that the changes required won’t be too onerous.

“Their market would be far better if they could go to the neighbouring provinces,” he said. “It might be as simple as some plumbing in their plants.”

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About the author

Karen Briere

Karen Briere

Karen Briere grew up in Canora, Sask. where her family had a grain and cattle operation. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Regina and has spent more than 30 years covering agriculture from the Western Producer’s Regina bureau.

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