WINNIPEG – Manitoba pork exporters can knock on wood. They haven’t faced the nightmare of losing markets because of drug residues in meat.
A good reputation doesn’t necessarily mean pork with drug residue is slipping through the system. But processors say any chance of drug residues getting through is one chance too many.
“We survive because of consumers,” said Bill McLean, general manager at J. M. Schneider. “And consumers are telling us they don’t want … drug residues in their product.” Pork with drug residues can cause mild to severe allergic reactions.
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Producers use drugs such as sulfa to treat sick pigs and protect them from disease. Pork does not contain residues when the drugs are administered properly and pigs are taken off the drugs at least 10 days before they are slaughtered.
Blaine Thompson, who oversees in-plant drug testing programs for the federal agriculture department here, said the vast majority of producers follow the rules, but occasionally make mistakes.
Thompson said only three hogs per thousand tested have sulfa residues, and other drugs show up much less often. He said hogs from about 50 different producers are tested in plants every day for sulfa, adding up to between 50,000 and 60,000 samples per year.
System is not foolproof
Nationally, only 0.32 percent of hogs tested in 1992-93 contained sulfa.
But there are cracks in the system:
- Testing is random. “There’s no guarantee that a producer’s hogs are going to get picked up,” said Thompson.
- When a hog tests positive, its herd mates shipped for slaughter on the same day are not usually detained, even though it takes up to three days for test results to be confirmed because they have to be shipped to a lab in Saskatoon. Agriculture Canada does not have the authority to detain other hogs from the same producer.
“That’s quite a weak link in our system,” said Thompson. “I can’t make any excuses for it, that’s just the way the program was established.”
McLean said his product is tested for drug residues in export markets, and has never come out positive.
Rick Mason of Manitoba Pork est. said a new Manitoba lab has been proposed as part of a new quality assurance program.
