Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives Minister Stan Struthers encouraged Manitoba meat processors to take part in a new federal-provincial-territorial meat hygiene pilot project that is intended to improve interprovincial trade of meat.
“The interprovincial sale of meat is inhibited by standards that vary between the provinces and territories and we want to change that,” said Struthers. “This pilot project is an opportunity for Manitoba producers to sell their world-renowned, high-quality meat products everywhere in Canada for all to enjoy.”
All meat-processing facilities follow exceptionally high hygiene standards based on the federal Food and Drug Act.
Each province and territory has meat-inspection legislation setting standards for meat products traded within their own jurisdictions. In meetings held last summer, federal, provincial and territorial governments discussed ways of eliminating barriers to interprovincial trade caused by differences in meat-processing regulations.
Beginning in February 2011, the National Meat Hygiene Pilot Project will evaluate the standards of meat processors that choose to participate in the program to determine what would be required to meet federal meat-hygiene requirements for interprovincial trade. The next step would be to help processors achieve the national standard.
“The health of Canadians and the safety of the food we consume is a priority for every federal, provincial and territorial government across the country,” the minister added. “Lessons learned from this pilot project will help us develop better food-safety requirements that maintain high standards and at the same time allow businesses to expand their markets, benefiting the local economy.”
Facilities will be selected from across Canada to participate in the pilot. To be considered as a pilot participant, businesses are asked to contact Diane Roberts at 204-945-7678 or Diane.Roberts@gov.mb.ca by Jan. 7, 2011.
