December 8, 2011- The Canadian Meat Council (CMC) said it welcomes Wednesday's release of the Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council Joint Action Plan, which it said will lead to the timely implementation of measures that will reduce investments by both Canadians and Americans in unnecessary regulations.
"Food safety is the most important priority of the meat industry," CMC president Scott Entz stated in a release Wednesday. "Unfortunately, some of the measures in place today divert valuable government and industry resources to activities that increase costs while not enhancing food safety. I am very pleased Prime Minister Harper and President Obama have included consideration of these unnecessary measures in the Regulatory Cooperation Council Joint Action Plan."
"Trade is incredibly important to our meat industry in Canada," Entz added. "We believe that the time has come for Canada and the U.S. to move forward with meat inspection reform and to work harder to recognize and build on the strengths of the Canadian and U.S. meat inspection systems."
According to the CMC, meat imported from the United States has been inspected by the US Department of Agriculture and marked with "US Inspected and Passed Department of Agriculture." Canadian meat exported to the USA has been inspected by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and marked with the Meat Inspection Legend. The border inspections are "re-inspections" of already approved USDA and CFIA inspected meat. Re-inspecting meat in its final package in a box from a truck is not nearly as efficient or as effective as inspecting meat while it is being transformed in a meat processing facility.
In 2010 Canada exported 378,000 tonnes of beef valued at $1.4 billion to 71 countries, of which the U.S. accounted for exports totalling 308,768 tonnes valued at $1.0 billion.
In the same year, Canada exported over 1 million tonnes of pork valued at over $2.8 billion to 114 countries, with 336,111 tonnes valued at $951 million going to the U.S.
The American Meat Institute also issued a release, stating the new pilot program to conduct inspections in plants in-country will help facilitate trade between the U.S. and Canada and prevent delays at the border.
"We commend the U.S. and Canadian governments for this common sense pilot program," AMI president J. Patrick Boyle stated. "Our U.S. and Canadian meat and poultry processing systems are nearly identical, as are our federal meat inspection regulations. Our nations are uniquely suited to this kind of collaborate effort and it stands to benefit both of our countries and our citizens."
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