Bureaucratic bungling has left Canada’s lone goose processor financially devastated, says its president Donald Salkeld.
Northern Goose Processors Ltd. of Teulon, Man., is suing the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for almost $6.5 million after the company was taken off the European Union’s list of approved exporters in December 1997.
Salkeld said the agency included his company on a list of poultry plants no longer interested in exporting to Europe.
But the processor ships half its production to Germany each year. For more than 20 years, Northern Goose has exported meat and feathers to Europe, the United States and Asia.
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Darryl Embury, the agency’s regional director, said he cannot comment on the case because it is before the courts. The agency has until late August to file a statement of defence with the court.
The matter started on Oct. 23, 1997, when a European Union inspector audited Salkeld’s plant.
The inspector noted Northern Goose needed to make several changes in how it recorded temperature changes and stored soap, changes Salkeld called relatively minor.
Northern Goose had finished its processing for 1997 European exports, said Salkeld, and planned to make the changes in time for the following export year.
In May 1998, his company bought the goose business of its competitor Pembina Poultry in Morden, Man., expanding capacity to 225,000 geese per year from 125,000, largely for the export market.
Salkeld signed an agreement with a German buyer for $2.625 million worth of geese for the fall.
In late August, a Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspector ensured the Northern Goose plant had made all the changes required by the EU inspector.
But on Sept. 7, Salkeld found out his plant had been delisted when his German buyer cancelled his order.
“That was a blow to me,” said Salkeld.
He called the Canadian consulate in Brussels, Belgium for help. After checking with European Union headquarters, the Canadian government official told him the CFIA included his plant on a Dec. 8, 1997 list of poultry processors that were no longer interested in exporting to Europe.
Salkeld said his German customer helped him get re-listed by Oct. 13, 1998.
However, CFIA inspectors would not let him ship any meat processed from August to Oct. 5.
The goose processing business is seasonal because the meat is consumed at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Northern Goose does all its processing from August to November.
“I just sunk in my chair,” recalled Salkeld. “It’s a disaster, an absolute disaster.”
He had to rent freezer space to store the meat and get extra financing to pay for holding onto the surplus.
Canadian and American prices fell because of the large amount of meat in storage, said Northern Goose’s statement of claim.
Salkeld said he was able to sell some goose to his German customer last year, but at a lower price because he couldn’t meet the terms of the original contract.
The company also lost a Japanese contract for feather and down because cash flow problems due to the lost German contract left it unable to buy feathers from a supplier.
No quick recovery
Salkeld’s suppliers, mainly Hutterite colonies, have cut their breeding stock dramatically. It will take a couple of years before he can build his business to its previous level, he said.
CFIA officials maintained they had nothing to do with the delisting of Northern Goose, said Salkeld.
In March 1999, through access to information, Salkeld obtained the December 1997 letter that led to the delisting.
During June, he had dispute resolution discussions with agency officials, whom he said admitted wrong-doing and discussed settlements. Those talks abruptly ended June 22, he said.
Salkeld filed his lawsuit July 23. He hopes the matter will soon be settled.
“I like to think that they will be willing to come to the table and face the consequences of what they did.”
