Leaders of Canada’s meat packing industry are uneasy about a $12 million subsidy to Atlantic Canada’s only federally inspected packing plant.
“I certainly have heard concern from our members across the country,” Canadian Meat Council president Jim Laws said. “Our concern is that we have been asking government for help in covering the costs of disposing of SRM (specified risk material) material across the country. Special help for one plant does not help with the problem the industry is facing.”
SRM is considered tissue most at risk for harbouring the infective agent for BSE, mainly brains, spinal cords and eyeballs of cattle 30 months and older.
Read Also
Ag in Motion speaker highlights need for biosecurity on cattle operations
Ag in Motion highlights need for biosecurity on cattle farms. Government of Saskatchewan provides checklist on what you can do to make your cattle operation more biosecure.
The federal government and provincial governments in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island agreed to pay $12 million to keep the plant afloat.
Laws said the company business plan includes specialty product exports, which has raised industry eyebrows because the United States keeps an eye on subsidies to companies that export product into the U.S. market.
“This is a very small plant but I know the Americans are vigilant about imports and since we have taken them to the WTO on their subsidies, I suppose there is a chance this could catch their attention,” he said.
“Everybody in the industry has to be very careful about their export plan.”
On Dec. 9, Ottawa announced it would make a one-time payment of $6 million to the Atlantic Beef Products packing plant at Borden, P.E.I.
Peter MacKay, the federal minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, said it was meant to help the plant adjust to market changes.
“Our government is standing up for Canada’s traditional industries and is prepared to take action to help workers in these industries adjust to global conditions,” said MacKay.
The provincial governments of P.E.I., Nova Scotia and New Brunswick each added $2 million and made it clear it was a regional development investment.
The ABP plant has been on financial life support for months.
It was opened in 2004 as a federally inspected plant equipped with technology to allow traceback and tracking. A bar code on each package of meat contains information that identifies the farm of origin.
The Borden plant is 90 percent owned by a 210-member farmer co-operative with the remaining ownership resting with the grocery chain Co-op Atlantic.
At its peak in early 2007, the plant employed 90 people, processed 550 cattle each week and held a 15 percent share of the Maritime beef market.
The government announcement of aid said the money would be used to develop higher value beef products.
