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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2013

VOL. 91 | NO. 6 | $4.25

HASKAP NEW VARIETIES | PROCESSING P24 IN SASKATCHEWAN

SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923

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ORGANICS | GMOs

Time to ’fess up: organics have GMOs ‘No such thing as zero’ | Expert says honest conversation needed with consumers about what organic means — and doesn’t BY ROBERT ARNASON BRANDON BUREAU

Despite public perceptions that organic products are GM free, organic food made from corn, soybeans, canola and sugar contains GMOs. | organic farmers don’t test their seed for GMO before planting, despite the reality that certified organic seed probably contains traces of GMOs. Maureen Fitzpatrick, a member of

Big Carrot, an organic food market in Toronto, said the basic problem in Canada and the United States is that organic farmers grow crops on a landscape saturated with GM plants.

“We live in a polluted world, and unfortunately genetic contamination is part of that picture,” said Fitzpatrick, who also spoke at the conference. SEE ORGANIC, PAGE 2

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FEBRUARY 7, 2013 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4

BEEF | EXPORTS

Better BSE status would give U.S. competitive edge over Canada BY SEAN PRATT SASKATOON NEWSROOM

Canadian beef exporters could be facing stiffer competition from the United States as early as this year if its BSE risk status improves, says a senior Canadian Food Inspection Agency official. The World Organization for Animal

FILE PHOTO

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Health (OIE) considers Canada and the U.S. to be “controlled BSE risk” countries. However, the U.S. has met one of the main requirements to move into the “negligible BSE risk” category, which means the latest birth date for its positive BSE animals is greater than 11 years ago.

The earliest Canada can be considered for negligible BSE risk status is 2016 because two of its BSE positive cases were born in 2004. “In all likelihood, the U.S. may qualify ahead of Canada,” said Noel Murray, senior adviser for risk management with the CFIA. He said it could happen this year or

next, and when it does the U.S. could gain a competitive advantage in its efforts to garner further access to Asian markets. Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China import beef from Canadian and U.S. animals only if they are younger than 30 months old. SEE BETTER STATUS, PAGE 2

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The Western Producer is published in Saskatoon by Western Producer Publications, which is owned by GVIC Communications Corp. Publisher: Shaun Jessome Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240; Registration No. 10676

GUELPH, Ont. — Leaders in North America’s organic movement say it’s time to tell consumers that organic food does contain genetically modified organisms. Speaking at the Guelph Organic Conference in early February, Dag Falck, organic program manager with Nature’s Path, one of the largest manufacturers of organic breakfast cereals and snack bars in North America, said the organic movement has to have an honest conversation with the public about GMOs. Despite public perceptions that organic products are GM free, Falck said organic food made from corn, soybeans, canola and sugar definitely contain GMOs. “If you are going to stop eating all those things, you will be able to be GMO free,” Falck told the organic conference at the University of Guelph. “But if you eat any of those products, and all of us do, you cannot. It doesn’t matter how philosophically pure you want to be, it isn’t going to happen…. There is no such thing as zero percent of anything.” He said organic cereals and other foods contain GMOs because of cross-pollination between conventional and organic fields. As well, most


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