New import rules allowing Canadian slaughter plants to segregate cattle by age should remove some obstacles to shipping beef to the United States.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency hammered out a proposal Sept. 4 to allow cattle older and younger than 30 months of age to be processed within the same plant.
Almost no beef has left Canada because it was too difficult to meet American requirements that eligible plants only process youthful animals.
A small shipment of veal was sent from Ontario last week.
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“Our government with the help of our packing industry presented a very rock solid protocol,” said Dennis Laycraft, executive vice-president of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
Details to be released later will outline acceptable processes for segregating animals by age, slaughter sequences, and equipment cleaning to prevent cross contamination.
Since one case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy shut Canada out of international markets, only a handful of countries have agreed to accept Canadian beef.
On Sept. 3, Mexico agreed to import Canadian boneless beef from cattle younger than 30 months. The Philippines and Russia have agreed to accept Canadian beef from cattle of all ages.
Traditionally beef for the Philippines came from Australia and New Zealand. Some beef also came from India.
“We have the ability to take a run at some of the other suppliers the Philippines traditionally has,” said Ted Haney, manager of the Canada Beef Export Federation.
Representatives from the federation plan to visit Russia this fall to further discuss their beef requirements since that country announced it is interested in doing business.
Russia stipulates boneless beef derived from animals under 30 months of age carry certification that the meat came from animals born and raised in Canada and from farms that have never had a case of BSE. Meat from older animals must be from those that tested BSE free.
Russia is a small player in beef trade, but the good news is that it is willing to accept beef from all ages of animals, said the chair of the export federation.
“What we have is a very viable opportunity for marketing boneless beef,” said Ben Thorlakson from his feedlot at Airdrie, Alta.
“They are price buyers. They are looking for good value and God knows we’ve got good value right now,” he said.
Worth millions
Russia imports about 600,000 tonnes of meat annually from Europe and South America. In the last three years it averaged 3,170 tonnes, worth $3.2 million, almost all in the form of liver and processing meats.
Canada’s absence from the world stage was not missed for the last three months.
“They don’t need Canadian beef. We need to be very aggressive and persistent to get action in each one of these international markets,” Thorlakson said.
“On the world scene we are not huge suppliers in any market outside the United States and Mexico,” he said.
As well, as of Sept. 1, all Canadian cattle must have identification tags or their owners face a $500 fine.
