Pork chief fears screening feed ingredients from China will add costs
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
by BETTER FARMING STAFF
Curtiss Littlejohn says although the measures are not affecting feed prices right now, they do generate costs that, “as we know with government, tend to get passed on to users of those products, whether they’re being tested or not.”
“I just hope this is not a situation where we are reacting to issues in another country that will once again place undue regulatory burden and costs upon Canadian producers and then be told by the government that we need to compete in the world market.”
Introduced Oct. 17, the measures arrive following the discovery of melamine, a chemical used in the plastics industry, in a Chinese shipment of eggs to Hong Kong. Tainted livestock feed was the culprit. Since 2007, melamine has turned up in Chinese products ranging from baby formula and chocolate to pet food.
Nitrogen-rich melamine is sometimes added to products to fool food protein tests. In Canada, it is illegal to add the chemical to food products. Nontoxic in trace doses, potential health effects of greater exposure include bladder or kidney stones that may lead to renal failure and in rare cases, death. Combined with cyanuric acid it forms melamine cyanurate, a fire retardant proven to cause renal failure in cats.
The agency requires tests for the presence of both melamine and cyanuric acid in dairy products or soybean meal originating in China and slated for inclusion in livestock feed. The results “must be provided at the time of importation,” states an advisory on the new testing procedures. Importers must foot the bill for the tests.
If anyone is importing these ingredients from China for use in livestock feed, they’re not doing it through Ontario entry points, says John Secord, the agency’s Ontario feed program specialist. Secord says he can’t point to a single shipment over the past two months that “fits the definition for feed” and says the agency’s requirements are precautionary.
Members of the Animal Nutrition Association of Canada are largely unaffected says spokesperson Julie Latremouille, but “there’s a whole mass of mills out there that I know nothing about in the sense that they’re not members so I don’t know what their practice is.”
In 2006, 25 million tonnes of feed were produced in Canada. The association’s 180 members produced 15 million tonnes. Latremouille says most of the rest was produced on-farm.
Since the 2007 discovery of melamine in pet food “our members have been well aware of the potential dangers or risks in importing products from China so we’ve enhanced import measures.” An enhanced, mandatory hazard analysis critical control point program is the primary safeguard. “Everything that goes into the feed first has to be tested,” she says. Association members have reduced their imports from China since the incident, she adds, explaining most members who import feed ingredients obtain them from the United States.
Latremouille says her association wasn’t consulted during the development of the new measures but supports them. The government and industry efforts work together to ensure there’s no “cracks in the system,” she says. BF