MARS is drawing closer to Earth than it has been for hundreds of years. Maybe that’s sufficient cosmic alignment to allow other long-awaited events to occur – like implementation of a national meat code.
One of the lessons learned from the BSE crisis is the need to increase domestic slaughter capacity and reduce our reliance on the cattle and beef markets of the United States. Part and parcel of that is the opportunity to improve domestic beef distribution and consumption, which in turn depends on interprovincial movement of meat.
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As it stands, only meat from federally inspected plants can be traded interprovincially and internationally. But building such a plant or refitting an existing plant to meet federal requirements is expensive, even daunting. There are very specific requirements, some of them demanded by international customers.
Federal Conservative opposition members say federal regulations are one of two main reasons that new plants, proposed as a result of the BSE crisis, are not up and running. The other reason, of course, is access to financing.
A national meat code was developed about six years ago, studied by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and declared in 2003 to provide food safety regulation basically equivalent to federal plants. If implemented, such a code would allow the interprovincial movement of meat from other plants.
The problem is that the CFIA wants a national standard that would apply to all provinces, thus giving it credibility with consumers and avoiding the need to administer complex sets of regulations. It seems a reasonable demand.
Not all the provinces are willing to sign on, of course. They worry about forcing small, unregulated plants to upgrade to a national standard.
Operators of smaller plants wonder where the money for upgrades will come from and whether they could depend on more business as a result. These are relevant concerns.
Will there ever be a better time to tackle them?
The Canadian cattle and beef industries are grappling with the new world imposed by BSE and its attendant restrictions and regulations. Will there ever be a better time to focus political will and devise plans to implement a national meat code? Will there be a better time, with a federal government surplus, to access funds that would allow the phasing in of a new plan – a national plan that the government claims to want?
In case you said no to those questions, consider that Ontario is already moving toward tougher rules for its smaller meat processors. The Manitoba government has embraced the national code idea for several years and agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk says her province would sign on.
That’s two. Other provinces must step up to the plate. It’s time.
