Bill Vaags is watching carefully as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency develops regulations for manufacturing medicated feed.
The hog producer from Dugald, Man., worries regulations could add expense and paperwork, especially if they duplicate what is already covered by the hog industry’s on-farm food safety program.
“Why have regulation upon regulation?” asked Vaags, an executive member of the Canadian Pork Council.”Why don’t they just accept what we’ve done?”
The CFIA is consulting with commodity groups as it writes medicated feed rules. It believes the feed must be regulated because of the increased scrutiny over food production.
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“They want to make sure we have a system for auditing and monitoring how drugs are used in Canada,” said Linda Morrison, national manager of the CFIA’s feed program.
Morrison said her agency would not object to dovetailing federal medicated feed regulations with on-farm food safety programs, which monitor how drugs are used on the farm.
However, she said the agency would need to be in charge of licensing farms, feedlots and commercial feed mills that manufacture medicated feeds. The CFIA would also need the authority to audit those operations.
Martin Rice, executive director of the Canadian Pork Council, said he hopes there’s a way to mesh the CFIA’s goals with what the food safety programs can provide. He said he was encouraged by Morrison’s suggestion that federal regulations might be linked with on-farm programs.
