Peace Country Tender Beef Co-op has not been cleared by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to begin testing slaughter cattle for BSE, despite Canadian Press news reports to the contrary.
“That news story was just wrong. It resulted in a lot of extra work for us to clear up the mess that story caused,” said Neil Peacock, who heads up the fledgling northwestern Alberta meat packer that plans to test all its meat for BSE.
CFIA and Tender Beef officials said the company has not applied for the right to test animals, and the government does not plan to authorize testing at this time.
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Peacock said the erroneous story that appeared on Canada’s national newswire “is creating attention we just don’t need right now.”
The packer is still seeking local cattle producer investment and participation and has recently chosen to locate in Dawson Creek, B.C., after becoming frustrated with the Alberta government over meat processing licensing issues.
Darcy Unseth of CFIA said his organization was also “misquoted or taken out of context” in the story, which implied that CFIA lawyers had found no legal means to stop the co-op from marketing BSE-tested beef.
“All recognized BSE testing in Canada is licensed though us. And then there are issues regarding packaging claims,” Unseth said.
He said any claim about a younger, BSE tested animal being free of the disease would be inaccurate because “there are no tests that can confirm or deny a test for the disease in an animal that young.”
