Our May 2023 issue

https://www.yesgroup.ca

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Canada Secures Guatemala Market for Canadian Meat Products

CMIT Dedicated to Advancing and Strengthening the Canadian Meat Processing Sector Is Keto Bad for the Heart?

Shrinking U.S. Cattle Herd Squeezes

Meatpacker Profits International Meat Secretariat Applauds Reaffirmation of Livestock’s Critical Role in Sustainable Food Systems

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North American Meat Institute: PRIME Act is a Food Safety Risk Legend in the North American Meat Industry Passes Away

FCC Sustainability Incentive Program Reopens with CRSB and McCain Foods

Chicken Farmers of Canada Become the Official Protein of Skate Canada Agriculture’s Cry for Help

https://www.reiser.com

PUBLISHER

Ray Blumenfeld ray@meatbusinesspro.ca

MANAGING EDITOR

Scott Taylor publishing@meatbusinesspro.ca

DIGITAL MEDIA EDITOR

Cam Patterson cam@meatbusinesspro.ca

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Cam Patterson, Jack Roberts, Nina Teicholz,

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Patrick Cairns

Meat Business Pro is published

12 times a year by We Communications West Inc

CANADA SECURES GUATEMALA MARKET FOR CANADIAN MEAT PRODUCTS

The Canadian government recently announced that it has regained market access to Guatemala for Canada’s pork, beef and poultry products.

Guatemala had closed access to its market for Canadian meat products in December 2013, due new requirements to inspect facilities in Canada for approval of exports.

Since 2013, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, with the support of Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, has been negotiating access for Canada’s meat products to Guatemala.

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“This is a big win for Canada. The success of Canadian agriculture depends heavily on Canada’s ability to export to the world, and Guatemala presents many opportunities for our exporters”, stated Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. “Our government will continue to support industry’s efforts to get Canadian businesses into new and existing markets and stimulate economic growth.”

As part of this market access, Canadian exports of beef, pork and poultry meat products produced on or after April 17, 2023, are now eligible to be exported to Guatemala.

Increased exports into Guatemala has been part of Canada’s long-term strategy to grow international markets for Canadian exporters, while contributing to global food security benefiting global consumers with access to high-quality meat and poultry products.

This also provides more opportunities for Canadian producers to diversify their exports and access key markets that are in close proximity geographically. Given the high transportation costs and supply chain challenges industry has faced, this access is welcome news.

QUICK FACTS

• In 2022, Guatemala’s total global import of beef, pork, and poultry was valued at $360 million.

• Canada’s agriculture and agri-food exports have continued to increase despite sector challenges, reaching over $93.9 billion in 2022 and surpassing a previous target to grow agri-food exports to at least $75 billion by 2025.

Tom Polansek, SeoRhin Yoo

THE BEEF, PORK & POULTRY INDUSTRY DIGITAL MAGAZINE

CMIT DEDICATED TO ADVANCING AND STRENGTHENING THE CANADIAN MEAT PROCESSING SECTOR

The Centre for Meat Innovation and Technology (CMIT) is the only Canadian meat Processing hub bringing together skills development, knowledge, collaboration, technology, innovation and research to make the meat processing industry more successful.

A new Centre for Meat Innovation and Technology (CMIT) was recently launched by Meat and Poultry Ontario to help Canadian processors collaborate, find and adopt new technology and innovation and make it easier for their employees to learn and advance their skills.

“This centre will ultimately help both processors and meat and poultry producers,” says CMIT Director Luis Garcia. We did our research and both processors and farmers told us there was significant room for them to grow if some of the key barriers holding them back could be addressed,” he explains.

One example is that processors have difficulty finding good employees with the specific skills they need. CMIT has been created to help address that gap. Garcia points to micro-credentialing courses already held for sausage making and other in-demand skills, with more being planned.

Another challenge for processors is often finding and testing the latest technology to see if it would be a fit for their operations. By collaborating with experts and manufacturers around the world, CMIT will help processors find and access solutions that will improve their operations and efficiency. The equipment can then be set up and tested through CMIT’s collaboration with the University of Guelph’s federally-inspected meat processing facility.

“The Centre for Meat Innovation and Technology is an example of how our agri-food advocacy groups are highlighting the valuable career opportunities available in Ontario’s agri-food sector,” said Lisa Thompson, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. “I would like to express my appreciation to the organizations who have donated the new equipment for this facility, and to Meat and Poultry Ontario for making this Centre a welcomed reality.”

“Young people need to see meat processing as a viable career and the best way to do that is through education,” comments Kevin Stemmler, Owner of Stemmler Meats and a strong supporter of CMIT and the organization’s mandate.

Stemmler has a second reason for his support. “During the pandemic we relied too much on a few companies to support our internal food system and we had issues. To protect the food system in the future, we need to be able to rely on more companies so we need to help them with skills and technology. That’s what CMIT will do.”

CMIT has a plan to be self-sustaining within the next five years by building fees for services and is launching a campaign to raise $1,000,000 to cover initial operations costs as revenue streams grow. Initial work and projects are already underway.

CMIT is founded and supported by Meat & Poultry Ontario to advance and strengthen theCanadian meat processing industry. The Centre is the leading Canadian meat hub powering industry collaboration and innovation. CMIT is dedicated to showcasing the world’s leading technology and helping Canadian processors adopt these innovations to become more competitive. CMIT is the only Canadian meat technology hub that encompasses skills development, training and sharing best practices backed by world class research and education.

ABOUT MPO

Meat & Poultry Ontario (MPO) is the representative voice of Ontario’s meat industry. Our members are independent

businesses proud to serve the communities they live and work in. The association is comprised of meat and poultry processors, wholesalers, and retailers; industry suppliers; and not-for profit organizations that support MPO’s objectives.

Ontario’s meat and poultry sector employs 25% of Ontario’s food and beverage processing industry — the single largest manufacturing employer in Ontario — and generates $11.2 billion of the province’s $45 billion food and beverage processing industry revenue.

For more information, visit https://www.meatpoultryon.ca

L-R: MPO President Kevin Schinkel, MPO Executive Director Franco Naccarato, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Lisa Thompson, CMIT Director Luis Garcia

IS KETO BAD FOR THE HEART?

By Nina Teicholz

Recently we saw another spate of anti-keto headlines stemming from an authoritative report, this time from the American Heart Association (AHA), warning that the “keto” (ketogenic) diet is bad for heart health. According to an AHA expert panel, low-carb diets, including keto and paleo, should be ranked last among 10 popular diets assessed. Mediterranean, low-fat, vegan, vegetarian and DASH (Dietary Alternatives to Stop Hypertension) were all rated higher.

But first, let’s look at the science on whether keto might actually be dangerous for heart health. We have no ‘hard’ data, i.e., evidence from clinical trials on heart attacks and deaths, to know the long-term effects of low-carb. Some observational studies have purported to find an association between low-carb and increased mortality, but these papers defined the diet, variously, as having between 37% to 50% of calories as carbohydrate, whereas top researchers in the field use the numbers 25-30%.

This list looked a whole lot like one in January, in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Diets,” issue, which gave low marks to keto and paleo. And last month, there were another 30-plus keto-bashing headlines, at CNN.com, Forbes, Salon, WebMD, Medscape and other outlets, with altogether millions of social-media views, trumpeting a study presented at a conference of the American College of Cardiology (ACC), which purported to show that a “keto” or “keto-like” diet was associated with elevated LDL-cholesterol (the so-called “bad” one) and a higher risk of cardiovascular events.

Is it possible we’re seeing a campaign of weak science being corralled to scare people away from the ketogenic diet? Upon inspection, it turns out that the science behind these claims is not just flimsy, it’s non-existent. In the case of the ACC reports, for instance, there’s not even a preprint of the study to justify the dozens of headlines.

Since we don’t have “hard data” on death or heart attacks, we can only look at the next-best thing: recognized cardiovascular risk factors such as cholesterol, which might predict longer-term outcomes. Here, we find multiple clinical trials showing that a ketogenic approach resolves high blood pressure (often within weeks) and improves most heart-disease markers. In a sizable trial after 1 year, a ketogenic approach improved 23 of 26 heart-disease risk factors measured, with the overall cardiovascular risk score dropping by nearly 12%, according to the ACC’s own “ASCVD risk calculator.” Of course more research is needed, but according to these data, a ketogenic approach seems safe and indeed, promising for combatting heart disease.

Given these data, how should we think about the allegations against keto? I already wrote about the scant science behind the U.S. News’ “Best Diets” list. Four of its highly ranked diets hadn’t even been tested in a single clinical trial.

The AHA and ACC, however, are more prominent authorities. These groups may have been heavily funded by pharmaceutical companies, yet they still command respect among doctors, and their guidelines are widely followed. And if they have solid science on the dangers of keto, then we should be grateful that such authorities are issuing caution. So let’s take a look.

THE AHA REPORT

Headlines such as “Popular keto and paleo diets aren’t helping your heart” in the Washington Post give the impression that the AHA authors looked at heart-disease outcomes of these diets in some systematic way, but in fact, they did not. Instead, the aim of the paper was to examine how closely each diet aligned with the AHA’s own diet plan. The authors asked, essentially: Are you like us? By this standard, the #1 diet on their list is DASH, because…that’s the AHA’s own diet! The AHA report was a self-affirmation exercise, a purity test. Headlines should have read: the AHA likes its own diet best and disapproves of others.

Although a rigorous analysis of any diet was outside the scope of the paper, the AHA authors nevertheless took the opportunity to lob some time-worn, long-since disproven pot shots at keto. The lead author, an established vegan advocate (also a panelist for U.S. News’ “Best Diets”) warns about the “keto flu,” a complaint dating back some 25 years that’s been answered in too many books and articles to count (in short, this “flu” is a transient condition that can easily be avoided by drinking soup broth). The authors also criticize the lack of a saturated fats limit on keto (see my tweet thread on that issue); the inability to adhere to such a restrictive diet (Hello, vegans, who’ve

eliminated all dairy, meats, shellfish, fish and eggs…exactly who’s restrictive?); and my favorite: “may limit hunger while leading to weight loss.” (Sounds terrible!)

STRONG OFFENSE

PROMOTING THE HEALTH BENEFITS

By Ronnie P. Cons

Red meat is often wrongly portrayed as being unhealthy. some in the media as unhealthy or not environmentally friendly.

Vegan, fish and other non-meat diets have been proposed as healthier alternatives. The result of this onslaught of negative meat messages has influenced many families to cut back on their meat and poultry purchases. Perceptions may reality but truth trumps misinformation. Parents and other consumers want what is best for their health and that of their families. They are also aware that a lot of false information is out there and as such, are open to scientific facts that can correct their misconceptions.

The bottom line here is that the AHA paper did not look systematically at evidence on heart-disease outcomes for any diet. Whether its stated aim, to evaluate diets against the AHA’s own “gold standard,” stands up to scrutiny depends on whether the AHA nutritional plan itself has been demonstrated to protect against heart disease. That’s a topic for another post, but spoiler alert: in the AHA’s most recent systematic review, in 2019, only a single clinical trial is cited to support the group’s nutrition recommendations. Can you guess which study that is? (Further, a single trial does not actually rise to the AHA’s own evidentiary standards, which call for multiple randomized clinical trials to substantiate guidelines. But a lack of evidence for guidelines is unfortunately not a rare occurrence for the AHA: a 2019 analysis published in JAMA found that only 8.5% of AHA/ACC guidelines met their evidence standards.)

This provides an opportunity for retail meat departments to implement an instore ‘Healthy Meat Facts’ nutritional campaign to set the record straight and convince their

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https://www.mmequip.com

In the case of the dozens of news items on a presentation given at the American College of Cardiology conference in March, these reported that a “keto” or “keto-like” diet is associated with higher LDL-cholesterol and greater risk of cardiovascular events. None of these findings could be confirmed, however, because the lead researcher for this study, Iulia Iatan, a physician-researcher for the University of British Columbia and Healthy Heart Program Prevention Clinic at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, only spoke about her research at the conference. Nothing is in print, not even an abstract or pre-print of the study, which are typical ways that researchers present preliminary work.

Still, the ACC issued a press release on Iatan’s utterings. Among the ACC’s 40-plus press releases issued during the conference, I found that only two were based on unpublished, unregistered work, Iatan’s included.

I asked the ACC if the group had any evidentiary standards for issuing a press releases, i.e., why merely spoken words at a conference would justify such media amplification, and a representative explained that sometimes “clinical research data” were selected for press releases-although Iatan’s study was not clinical research (it was an observational study, a much weaker form of evidence).

Contacting Iatan proved fruitless. She did not respond to emails or phone calls. Amidst my attempts to reach her, her employer’s press rep, Ann Gibbon, popped into my email box to say that Iatan was not available.

We had a further back-and-forth about a somewhat Orwellian aspect of Iatan’s study. Despite the dozens of headlines stemming from Iatan’s presentation on a “keto” and “keto-like” diet, I discovered that Iatan had not, in fact, looked at a keto diet, which is typically defined as having 20 grams of carbs or less; Iatan’s study used a definition of five times that, or 100 grams. She herself described her study diet, accurately, as “low-carb, highfat” in the ACC press release but then called it “ketolike” in another report.

Definitional accuracy is a fundamental starting point for good science, yet no one involved in the ACC “news” event seemed to have minded about the serious mislabeling problem. Indeed, Iatan, the University of British Columbia, and the ACC all posted headlines about a “keto” diet.

Still, when I queried Iatan’s press rep Ms. Gibbon about the inaccurate use of “keto,” she said she would demand a correction if I used that word to describe Iatan’s study, even though a “keto” post was at that moment on Iatan’s own university website, and apparently Ms. Gibbon wasn’t pursuing corrections on this issue with the ACC, CNN. com, GoodMorningAmerica.com, Salon, Fortune, Fox.com, Medscape, WebMD, Medical News Today, or any of the other 20+ outlets that had reported on the study as “keto” or “keto-like.”

CAMPAIGN AGAINST KETO?

When people say that nutrition science is difficult to understand, they’re 100% correct. Often, there are genuine disputes over complex science. However, I think the phenomenon we may be seeing here is something different: an apparently purposeful amplification of non-existent “findings” on “keto.” I don’t know whether this represents a concerted effort to denigrate the diet. Certainly, one can imagine many potential motives.

For instance, keto, as the virtual opposite of the official recommendations of these groups (AHA and ACC, as well as the US. Dietary Guidelines for Americans), must trigger intellectual and cognitive dissonance for experts who have ‘known’ differently for their entire careers. Also, it feels cynical to say but is nonetheless undeniably true that because keto allows people to get off many or all of their medications, the diet poses a clear threat to

pharmaceutical companies. Chronic diseases that require lifelong medications are a sweet spot of assured revenue for this industry. After all, pharmaceutical companies spent more than $8 billion on media advertising last year (up from $6 billion in 2020), and their aim is not for you to consume fewer of their products. This fact may also go some ways towards explaining why many media outlets are so quick to publish non-existent keto findings.

The ACC reported receiving 38% of its revenue from industry in 2012, and the AHA reported 20% of revenue from industry in 2014.

(If anyone knows more recent numbers, I’d love to see).

It’s one thing not to trust the media. Half of all Americans now believe news organizations deliberately mislead them--an historic low. However, distrusting groups like the AHA and ACC comes harder.

On the bright side, when your doctor or friend who’s read the spate of headlines this year tells you to steer clear of that “dangerous” keto diet, you can tell them that’s fake news. And when the next round of bad keto news comes, you’ll know to read between the headlines and check the facts.

For more information, visit : https://unsettledscience.substack.com/

SHRINKING U.S. CATTLE HERD SQUEEZES MEATPACKER PROFITS

By Tom Polansek, Reuters

U.S. cattle producer Brad Kooima declined multiple, escalating bids from meatpackers seeking to buy his livestock to hold out for higher prices.

His bargaining power is a dramatic reversal from three years ago, when cattle were plentiful and Kooima said he went seven weeks without getting a bid as COVID-19 outbreaks shut meat plants, making it difficult to sell livestock.

Now, the U.S. beef cow herd is the smallest since 1962. Drought and high feed costs drove producers to send animals to slaughter instead of keeping them for breeding. Farmers who fatten cattle have gained leverage in sales negotiations over the meatpackers that dominate the market, such as Tyson Foods Inc., Cargill Inc. and JBS USA.

Paying more for cattle cuts into the meatpackers' profitability. They will likely try to pass on costs to customers, charging more for ground beef and steaks at a time of high inflation, analysts said.

Cargill, the world's largest ground beef producer, expects cattle prices will rise further, but it is still a question whether higher beef prices will ruin consumers' appetites, company executives said.

"The unknown factor there is demand: how much will the consumer pay?" said Tom Windish, who oversees Cargill's beef business.

Meat processors are assessing demand, along with cattle supplies and operating margins, to determine how much to run their slaughterhouses.

NSF INTERNATIONAL FOCUSES ON CANADIAN FOOD INDUSTRY WITH NEW WEBSITE FOR SERVICES IN CANADA

The average retail price for choice beef in the first quarter was about $7.60 a pound, 0.6% lower than a year earlier but up 18% from 2021, Agriculture Department data show.

In Tyson's beef business, its biggest unit by sales, adjusted operating margins dwindled to 2.7% in the quarter that ended on Dec. 31 from 19.1% the previous year. The company said costs to buy live cattle soared about $530 million.

Global public health organization showcases services for Canada’s growing and fast-changing food industry

Cargill does not need to operate plants for as many hours as it did in 2020 because of tighter supplies and improving staffing levels, said Hans Kabat, leader of Cargill's North American protein unit.

NSF International in Canada recently launched a new website - www.nsfcanada.ca - to give Canada’s growing and complex food and beverage industry easy access to the global public health organization’s expertise and services in Canada. The website combines information on the depth, experience and capabilities of the NSF International Canadian office with access to NSF International’s global services dedicated to food safety and quality.

The amount of money meatpackers earn buying cattle and converting them into meat fell below $40 per head of cattle in April, after topping $700 per head in May 2020, analysts at HedgersEdge.com said. Recently the margins were about $117 per head.

Kooima said he declined packers' attempts in April to buy high-quality cattle in Iowa's cash market for $182 per hundredweight and $183 before ultimately scoring a bid for his target price: $185.

Evolving regulations across countries and increasing complexities associated with a globalized food supply network present challenges for NSF International clients in Canada and around the world. The new Canadian website offers expertise and services to help companies navigate these challenges, including certification and auditing, consulting, technical services, training and education, food and label compliance, packaging, and product and process development.

Strong consumer demand for beef so far is helping boost competition for cattle. Demand generally increases as the weather warms up and grilling season begins.

NSF International’s Canadian website provides information on the following services:

Certification & auditing: Third-party food safety audits and certifications, which are integral components of supplier selection and regulatory compliance. Accurate audits are the first step toward successful verification of a company’s food safety system, providing improved brand protection and customer confidence. Certifications and audits are available for animal and produce in the agriculture industry, GFSI certification and management system registration.

"Three years ago, the first bid we got, we took it," said Todd Drake, another producer who feeds several thousand cattle. "Today, they bid me $178 on a Tuesday, and it's like, 'Yeah we're going to wait.'"

Live cattle futures prices reached a record 177.700 cents per pound for the front-month contract on April 13, before easing in May. The peak was up 26% from a year earlier and 118% from April 2020.

Consulting: A full-service team approach providing technical resources, expertise and insight for a wide range of food safety and quality services. NSF International provides finished product inspection testing for food, packaging and non-food testing for rapid analysis and insight to protect the brand, technical support services from on-site temporary or permanent technical staffing placements, and various types of consulting.

Technical services: A one-stop solution for food product compliance and formulation, from concept to finished product, including food and label compliance, packaging, product and process development, and shelf-life and product evaluation.

Training and education: Training for the global food and beverage industry across the supply chain as an

regulations (including FSMA), food science, food packaging,

an FAQ.

Goldman Sachs estimates Tyson's beef margins were 3% in the next quarter, down from 12.7% a year earlier, and will average less than 2% in 2024 and 2025. Tyson declined to comment before it reports earnings on Monday.

"Packers are scrambling," said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University agricultural economist.

Big profits for meatpackers during the pandemic and soaring beef prices fueled concerns in the Biden administration about consolidation and profiteering in the sector.

Ranchers received about 39 cents of every dollar a consumer spent on beef in 2022, compared to more than 60 cents 50 years earlier, according to the White House.

In 2023, "the cattle feeder can negotiate more of the consumer dollar," said Brett Gottsch, managing partner Gottsch Cattle Co, which raises cattle in Nebraska.

Gottsch remains concerned about a lack of competition among meatpackers, though others said surging cattle prices show the market works.

Pete Bonds, a Texas-based feeder, said he could not believe prices are so high. "I'm just tickled to death," he said.

Only four companies - Cargill, Tyson, JBS and National Beef Packing Company - slaughter about 85% of grainfattened cattle that are made into steaks, roasts and other cuts. The companies say supply and demand determine cattle and beef prices.

The Agriculture Department said it will continue monitoring the sector, as the government awards $1 billion to smaller-sized meat processors to expand slaughtering capacity.

https://www.beaconmetals.com

INTERNATIONAL MEAT SECRETARIAT APPLAUDS REAFFIRMATION OF LIVESTOCK’S CRITICAL ROLE IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS

The International Meat Secretariat (IMS) has welcomed a new report issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations that reaffirms livestock’s critical role in healthy diets and sustainable food systems and will make significant contributions to global understanding of the benefits of meat production and consumption.

The FAO report (Contribution of terrestrial animal source food to healthy diets for improved nutrition and health outcomes) concludes that, within appropriate dietary patterns, meat and other food produced from land-based animals can make vital contributions to meeting Sustainable Development Goals’ nutrition targets, including to reduce stunting, wasting and overweight among children; improve birth weight; reduce anemia in women of reproductive age; and reduce obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in adults.

INTERNATIONAL MEAT SECRETARIAT (IMS) PRESIDENT GUILLAUME ROUÉ APPLAUDED THE REPORT, COMMENTING:

“FAO’s conclusions reaffirm that meat plays an essential role in positive health outcomes and point to the urgent need for further research on specific populations’ nutrient needs, as well as the need to accelerate adoption of climate-smart livestock production.

“The highest standard evidence, including FAO’s analysis, must inform global and country-level recommendations on meat production and consumption, to harness meat’s benefits for human health and the environment.

“The report is the first in a series mandated by the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG) which directed in 2020 that FAO produce a “comprehensive, science and evidence-based global assessment of the contribution of livestock to food security, sustainable agrifood systems, nutrition and healthy diets.”

THE FAO REPORT IS AVAILABLE HERE.

About the International Meat Secretariat (IMS)

IMS represents the global meat and livestock sector as a vital motor of growth and prosperity to meet the future demands for sustainable, high-quality, nutritious and safe animal protein. The IMS is a non-profit organization that brings together livestock producer associations, national and regional meat associations, meat exporter associations, meat processing companies, government, and corporate partners from around the world representing more than 75% of the global production of cattle, pig, and sheep meat.

NORTH AMERICAN MEAT INSTITUTE: PRIME ACT IS A FOOD SAFETY RISK

The North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) has announced its opposition to the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act, or the PRIME Act, for the risk it poses to food safety.

“American consumers rely on rigorous USDA inspection to ensure the safety and quality of their meat and poultry,” said Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts. “Allowing meat to enter commerce without inspection – and without alerting consumers they are buying uninspected meat -- jeopardizes food safety and will undermine consumer confidence in all meat products.”

The PRIME Act was reintroduced in the U.S. House by Representatives Thomas Massie (R- Ky.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have introduced the same bill in the Senate.

The PRIME Act would amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to allow custom slaughter facilities to sell uninspected meat directly to consumers, to restaurants and food service, and at retail.

Under The Federal Meat Inspection Act, custom slaughter facilities harvest livestock for the personal use of the owner of the animal. The food produced may not enter commerce. There is no continuous inspection and no veterinarian required to assess the health of the livestock.

Federally inspected facilities, and state inspected facilities with cooperative agreements with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), have inspectors continuously conducting oversight of operations to ensure the safety and quality of meat and poultry and the health and wellness of the livestock.

Should a problem occur, products bearing the mark of USDA inspection can be traced to protect consumers.

“It is important for the American economy and the entire meat value chain that the safety of our meat and poultry is never taken for granted. The meat and poultry industry, and the taxpayer, has invested billions of dollars in food safety protections, research and infrastructure to ensure we have the safest meat in the world,” said Potts. “While this bill may be well intentioned, it poses especially unnecessary risks given the many resources available to help new and small facilities gain inspection from FSIS.”

Those resources include more than $1 billion in federal technical assistance and financial assistance in the following USDA administered programs:

• Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grants:

• Meat and Poultry Processing Capacity - Technical Assistance Program

• Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program

MEAT AND POULTRY PROCESSING EXPANSION PROGRAM BACKGROUND:

• There are more than 6,500 federally inspected facilities throughout the United States.

• There were 946 plants slaughtering under federal inspection on January 1, 2023

LEGEND IN THE NORTH AMERICAN MEAT INDUSTRY PASSES AWAY

The first Canadian ever inducted into the North American Meat Institute Hall of Fame passed away on April 22, 2023 leaving a legacy that will be remembered for years to come.

Ralph Cator founded Cardinal Meat Specialists in 1966 after learning the butcher trade in his father’s retail butcher shop in Toronto. In 25 years at the helm, Cator turned Cardinal into one of this country’s leading suppliers of burgers, ribs and other products to restaurants, grocery retailers and the wholesale market.

Cator helped make Cardinal an industry leader known for its innovations. Among his many accomplishments, Cator installed Canada’s first cryogenic freezer for burgers. In 1986, Cardinal became the first company in the world to use the Tenderform patty forming equipment in food processing that produced a burger that was less processed and that has now become the industry standard.

In 1992, Cator was the first Canadian to ever serve as President of the North American Meat Processors (NAMP). A few years later, he was given the NAMP Angus Award, its most prestigious honour.

“My father had many expressions he used to guide his life,” says Brent Cator, Ralph’s son who is now President and CEO of Cardinal. He used to say, “no one of us is as smart as all of us”. And another I loved, “without a plan, any road will get you there. You just may not like where you end up.”

After he retired from Cardinal, Cator went back to school to pursue his passion for photography and became an accredited photographer. Ralph Cator was 87 and died after a short illness.

For more information, visit www.cardinalmeats.com

ABOUT CARDINAL MEAT SPECIALISTS

Cardinal Meat Specialists has custom created a broad range of specialty products from burgers to fully cooked proteins servicing both retail and food service customers across Canada. The company’s roots trace to Jack Cator starting on the farm and then running butcher shops, followed by son Ralph who elevated the business to protein processing in the 60’s under the Cardinal name. Now under the stewardship of third generation Brent Cator, Cardinal Meat Specialists serves its customers with state-of-the-art technology to provide the safest, most consistent and of highest quality products possible. actions and enforcement actions where warranted, guided by the Standard Regulatory Response Process. These actions included removing products from Canada, detention, destruction, or relabelling.

FCC SUSTAINABILITY INCENTIVE PROGRAM REOPENS WITH CRSB AND MCCAIN FOODS

Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC) Sustainability Incentive Program is once again open to applicants in partnership with the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) and McCain Foods.

FCC encourages eligible cattle producers and potato growers to explore the benefits of receiving incentive payments by increasing the adoption of sustainable practices through the CRSB certification initiative and the McCain Foods potato growers’ framework. Anyone who applied to the program in 2022 and new eligible applicants are now able to apply for this year’s incentive payments.

The goal of the Sustainability Incentive Program is to recognize and encourage customers as they adopt sustainable agricultural practices. Incentive payments are calculated on a portion of a customer’s lending with FCC. Producers are required to continue to meet the requirements and certification of their respective program to be eligible for the annual incentive payment. Complete details are available at fcc.ca.

The CRSB works with third-party certification bodies (Verified Beef Production Plus, Where Food Comes From and Ontario Corn Fed Beef Quality Assurance Program) to provide audited certification to its Sustainable Beef Production Standard at the cow-calf, background and feedlot level.

“FCC is happy to be reopening applications for our sustainability programs. We are in a unique position to work with individual sectors in the agriculture and food industry on their sustainability goals,” explains Curtis Grainger, FCC’s director of sustainability programs. “The progress we’re seeing looks different depending on the sector and on an individual’s operation. That’s why the established, verified initiatives at CRSB and McCain Foods are important partnerships that allow us to support producers with their individual needs.”

“As a global leader in the food industry, McCain Foods is committed to promote sustainable agriculture practices,” says Daniel Metheringham, McCain Food’s vice-president of agriculture. “We are proud to work in partnership with FCC to incentivize and support farmers in their transition to regenerative agriculture. This collaboration exemplifies our shared commitment to creating programs that foster environmental stewardship, improve farm resilience, and build a more sustainable future for our communities and our planet.”

NEW SURREY SLAUGHTERHOUSE

“FCC has shown up in a big way for CRSB certified producers, recognizing the time and investment it takes to maintain certification and continuously improve production practices,” says Ryan Beierbach, CRSB Chair and Saskatchewan producer. “The partnership between CRSB and FCC has been pivotal to the growth of the Certified Sustainable Beef Framework over the past year. We’ve seen increased interest and retention in CRSB certifications and as a producer myself, I am proud of FCC acknowledging beef producers’ commitment to sustainable production.”

‘WOULD OPEN DOOR’ TO NEW BEEF MARKETS

Canadian producers have always focused on what is best for their land and livestock, while meeting the challenges of the market and the needs of consumers. The future will require continued innovation and the adoption of new practices and technologies as an ongoing part of business planning and risk management.

Proposed 30,000-square-foot beef abattoir in Cloverdale would be B.C.’s largest such facility

By Amy Reid, Peace Arch News

A federally licensed beef processing facility is in the works in Surrey, BC.

Beierbach notes that increased consumer demand for certified sustainable beef in the marketplace puts CRSB certified producers in an excellent position moving forward.

“There’s a new building coming forward, a new abattoir, I think that’s the French pronunciation of slaughterhouse,” said Councillor Mike Starchuk. “So Surrey will have a newer facility with a better capacity so people will have the ability to not have to ship an animal to Alberta to have it processed. The applications have gone through the Agricultural and Food Sustainability Advisory Committee.”

McCain Foods is an excellent partner in the FCC Sustainability Incentive Program by providing matching incentive payments to eligible producers. Their framework guides producers on their sustainability journeys. McCain Foods has a goal to implement sustainable agricultural practices across 100 per cent of its potato acreage worldwide by 2030.

The facility is proposed on a 25-acre property within the Agricultural Land Reserve at 5175 184th St. The planned 30,000-square foot abattoir in Cloverdale would process up to 100 head of cattle per day.

According to a city report, that would make it larger than any other processing facility in B.C.. But it would still be small by industry standards, compared to the largest meat processing plants in Alberta that process 3,000 heads of cattle per day.

The proposed facility would be fully enclosed and designed

FCC continues to look for opportunities to incentivize producers who participate in industry-led sustainability initiatives that have established systems for verification and measurement of best management practices.

so as to not emit odours. And while there is an operational 6,000-square-foot abattoir on the property now, it’s can only process a limited number of cattle.

Chris Les is general manager of Meadow Valley Meats,

For more information, visit https://www.fcc-fac.ca/en.html

and we’ll serve a niche industry for producers and for the market. It’s certainly not going to be a monstrosity of a plant but it’ll be a big upgrade from the site currently.”

Continued on page 32

https://www.tcextrade.com

In continuation of the rising trend in the health, wellness and fitness culture, Chicken Farmers of Canada and Skate Canada recently announced a new partnership. Beginning this year, Canadian chicken will be the official protein of Skate Canada.

This partnership will support both Skate Canada’s recreational and competitive programing through the CanSkate program and assistance for high performance athletes. CanSkate is Skate Canada’s flagship learn-toskate program that teaches millions of Canadians to reach their recreational and competitive goals on the ice in communities across Canada. Skate Canada’s highperformance teams compete nationally for Canadian titles and for international medals on the world stage.

“Our shared vision for the promotion of a healthy and active lifestyle will make for an incredibly successful partnership between Chicken Farmers of Canada and Skate Canada,” said Tim Klompmaker, Chair of Chicken Farmers of Canada. “Chicken Farmers of Canada believes that good nutrition is the fuel needed for both mental and physical performance of Canadian athletes.”

“We are thrilled to be partnering with the Chicken Farmers of Canada. To perform at sport, athletes need to fuel their body with healthy choices to succeed on the ice,” said Debra Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer, Skate Canada. “We are looking forward to collaborating with Chicken Farmers of Canada to promote healthy living through both eating and exercise.”

CHICKEN FARMERS OF CANADA BECOME THE OFFICIAL PROTEIN OF SKATE CANADA

DF: I don’t think being on the island has really impacted us negatively one way or the other. We’ve traveled a lot, met a lot of other farmers and livestock producers in other parts of Canada, and we all seem to have the same issues and same concerns.

CMB: I understand that your farm was the first in Atlantic Canada to be involved in the TESA program.

DF: Yes, I think we were the first farm east of Ontario as far as I understand. I’m not sure why the eastern associations wouldn’t have previously nominated anybody because there are many farms here on PEI doing every bit as much as we are as to attain a high level of sustainability. Anyway, we were very surprised when the PEI Cattleman’s Association nominated our farm.

Chicken Farmers of Canada and Skate Canada both have strong Canadian roots and values around healthy lifestyles.

CMB: And then you were attending the Canadian Beef conference in Calgary and you won.

Chicken Farmers of Canada represents Canada’s 2,800 chicken farmers, raising Canada’s number one meat protein safely, and to the highest standards of care.

Skate Canada is the largest learn-to-skate teaching organization in Canada and is dedicated to creating a nation of skaters both recreationally and competitively.

DF: Yeah! That was a very nice moment for us. But I don’t like to use the word win actually. However, being recognized for our commitment was a real honour. If you want to know the truth, it was a pretty humbling experience. As I said to CBC when they phoned me after the conference, I was

For more information, visit https://www. chickenfarmers.ca/

meatbusiness.ca

https://www.yesgroiup.ca

AGRICULTURE’S CRY FOR HELP

Consistently low levels of optimism in Canada’s agriculture sector are holding the sector back from prospering

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) works with our members in measuring optimism levels among small businesses regularly throughout the year, tracking how confident owners are feeling about the future of their small business. The levels are reported in the format of long-term (12-months) and short-term (3-months) indexes and are broken up into provinces and sectors.

Perhaps unsurprising to many in the sector, our data shows that there is deep-seeded concern among Canadian agri-businesses. Every month for the past year, optimism levels among agri-business owners have remained low, with agriculture’s sectoral levels of optimism sitting either at the bottom or second from bottom every month compared to other sectors.

The month of April showed us, yet again, agri-business owners’ confidence levels were the lowest among all the industries. For the 3-month index, agriculture reported one of the largest increases we have seen in a long time at 3.3 per cent in the confidence level but still observed a figure of 52.5 per cent.

The 12-month index showed that agriculture saw a slight increase of 1.4 per cent from March levels, but still sat at 46 per cent. CFIB tends to sound the alarm at any long-term optimism level below 50 per cent as it means the majority of the entire sector is not feeling confident about the future of their agri-business.

The alarms are sounding off.

Of course, this comes without saying, the numbers fluctuate heavily due to seasonality and the response rate for those in agriculture. However, almost a full year of the sector having the lowest optimism levels tells us that something is wrong.

In addition to optimism levels, CFIB also tracks what sort of trends could be affecting the small business outlook. The most important factors to agri-businesses are the limitations of sales and production growth, and major input cost constraints.

So, what could be causing such long periods of low optimism in the sector?

In terms of limitations of sales or production growth, the top issues that small agri-businesses are seeing are shortage of skilled labour (33%), shortage of unskilled, semi-skilled labour (31%), and shortage of working capital (27%) which is tied with insufficient domestic demand (27%).

Similarly, with the April 1st 15-cent rise in the federal carbon tax, CFIB released a snapshot entitled Fueling Unfairness: Carbon Pricing and Small Businesses. This snapshot highlights the unfairness in the carbon tax program; how the federal government has returned less than 1% of the promised carbon tax revenues collected by small businesses ($2.1 billion), back to small businesses. This is important as input costs continue to trend at all-time highs for agri-businesses across the country.

Meanwhile, the top major input cost constraints are product input costs (76%), fuel, energy costs (75%), and borrowing costs (49%) which is tied with wage costs (49%).

The agriculture sector is known for its strength and resilience. CFIB sees the dedication that our food producers put into their work, and we want to help make their lives easier and more affordable. This is why we have been working tirelessly to push Bill C-234: An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act forward. Fortunately, this act is seeing traction as it passed through the House of Commons (HoC) and is now sitting in its second reading for Senate.

The time is long past due for policymakers to listen to farmers and stakeholders in the sector so they may make policy decisions that actually benefit the sector for the short and long term.

Our voice only grows stronger with your membership. JOIN CFIB today to raise your business

These issues are not new to the agriculture sector, and they have been constantly present as a source of concern for most agri-businesses. This is why CFIB is vocal in getting our small business members’ voices heard across all levels of government.

Last year, to address our agri-business members’ concerns on labour shortages, we released a report and federal submission, Help Wanted: Labour Shortages Threaten the Future of Canadian Agriculture, which included identifying some of the causes that were contributing to the lack of willing people to work in agriculture, as well as a list of recommendations for policymakers.

SeoRhin Yoo is a Policy Analyst for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). CFIB is Canada’s largest association of small and mediumsized businesses with 97,000 members (4,500 agribusiness members) across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca. Businesses, available on the CFIB website in both English and French.

Not a member? JOIN CFIB today for more help and information

SeoRhin Yoo

Remco and The Yes Group Protecting

Remco products are colour-coded to help divide the production cycle into different zones. By identifying these zones as different cleaning areas, the movement of bacteria around the production area can be blocked.

Our products were developed with the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) in mind.

No matter what colour-coding plan is implemented, Remco Products from The Yes Group provides significant added value at no additional cost. From scoops to squeegees, from brushes to shovels, we have the products and the colours to enhance any professional quality assurance program.