A stronger ban on ingredients allowed in Canada’s animal feed is the right decision but true costs remain to be seen, says the Animal Nutrition Association of Canada.
“There are real costs here that somebody will have to bear and at this point it is the rendering industry and the cattle producers who will have to deal with that,” said Kathleen Sullivan of the association that represents animal feed manufacturers.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced June 26 that specified risk materials are no longer allowed in any livestock feed, pet food or fertilizer.
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These byproducts are believed to be potential sources of the BSE infection. The list of banned material expands a 1997 law when meat and bone meal derived from animals such as cattle and sheep was prohibited as a protein source from all ruminant feeds.
Handling these materials should not be a hardship to meat processors and government money is available to help them upgrade facilities and segregate and dispose of SRMs, said Dennis Laycraft, spokesperson for the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
“The last thing we want to do is drive our small processors out of business. We are going to work with them and government to make sure we minimize any impact we can,” he said.
The regulation also assures international customers that Canada is working to eradicate BSE so that full trade can resume.
“Our current feed ban had improved over a number of years and this is another measure on top of that to ensure it is as strong a feed ban as we need in place,” Laycraft said.
Cargill Foods at High River, Alta., has its own rendering facility and appreciates the ability to look at different technologies to make use of SRMs and still remove the risk of disease from the food chain.
“We are most pleased the CFIA has recognized that the regulations have been written to allow innovation and new technology,” said spokesperson Rob Meijer.
At full capacity, Cargill kills up to 400 cows per day at its 4,200 head per day slaughter plant and wanted clarity on what was required for disposal as well as what had to be removed.
The announcement was also good news for biofuel manufacturer Kelsey Prenovost, owner of Lethbridge based Kyoto Fuels and a member of the Alberta Biodiesel Fuel Association. His company is interested in using refined fats from SRMs to make biodiesel.
The committee is advising Alberta agriculture minister Doug Horner on how to move this forward.
“Putting that material into anything that is non-food use is the best idea and biofuel is one of the opportunities,” said Prenovost.
