by BETTER FARMING STAFF
Gencor Foods Inc (GFI) closed its doors at the end of March and announced its intention to file for an application for bankruptcy. Unspecified financial losses were cited, along with the failure to find a buyer for the distressed plant.
“Regulations enacted in the United States for Specified Risk Material (SRM) are much less rigorous than the regulations established in Canada,” a Gencor press release stated.
An enhanced feed ban came into place in July of last year. When the Americans opened their border to over 30 month old cattle last November, American plants buying cows in Ontario had “at least a $39 per cow cost advantage” over plants like GFI, Stewart said.
Gencor Foods Inc was formed in 2004 to reopen the former MGI plant in Kitchener.
“I’m really disheartened by the loss of cull cow capacity in the province,” Stewart told Better Farming. Gencor was “built up with substantial investment from the provincial government and producers.”
“Governments have to get serious about addressing the regulatory inequalities,” Stewart said. “We are trying to have an integrated market here in North America … There isn’t any adequate compensation for the changes in regulations,” and it is driving processors and producers out of business.”
Gencor cited a “one time” payment from the province to deal with the SRM issue as providing some relief. The province did provide packing plants with money in January, says Kelly Synnott, advisor to provincial agriculture minister Leona Dombrowsky.
SRM regulations are federal, says Brent Ross, spokesman for the ministry. The province won’t reveal the amount of support it gave to Gencor. It is “proprietary business information.”
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada did not comment in time for Better Farming’s deadline. BF
Comments
Kansas Firm Recalls Cattle Heads That Contain Prohibited Materials
Recall Release CLASS II RECALL
FSIS-RC-012-2008 HEALTH RISK: LOW
Congressional and Public Affairs
(202) 720-9113
Amanda Eamich
WASHINGTON, April 4, 2008 - Elkhorn Valley Packing LLC, a Harper, Kan.,
establishment, is voluntarily recalling approximately 406,000 pounds of
frozen cattle heads with tonsils not completely removed, which is not
compliant with regulations that require the removal of tonsils from cattle
of all ages, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection
Service announced today.
Tonsils are considered a specified risk material (SRM) and must be removed
from cattle of all ages in accordance with FSIS regulations. SRMs are
tissues that are known to contain the infective agent in cattle infected
with BSE, as well as materials that are closely associated with these
potentially infective tissues. Therefore, FSIS prohibits SRMs from use as
human food to minimize potential human exposure to the BSE agent.
The products subject to recall include: [View Label | Larger Image (PDF)]
Various weight bulk boxes of "BEEF WHOLE HEADS, KEEP REFRIGERATED." Each
shipping package bears the establishment numbers "EST. 19549A" inside the
USDA mark of inspection, as well as a package code of "91700" or "93700."
The company is recalling all products packed before March 28, 2008, with the
package code "91700" or "93700." These products were sent to distributors
and wholesalers nationwide.
The problem was discovered at a State-inspected processing establishment
that received some of the recalled products and verified that there had been
incomplete removal of the tonsils. FSIS has received no reports of illness
at this time.
Media and consumers with questions about the recall should contact company
President Mike Grant at (620) 896-2300.
Consumers with food safety questions can "Ask Karen," the FSIS virtual
representative available 24 hours a day at AskKaren.gov. The toll-free USDA
Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) is available in
English and Spanish and can be reached from l0 a.m. to
4 p.m. (Eastern Time) Monday through Friday. Recorded food safety messages
are available 24 hours a day.
#
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_012_2008_Release/index.asp
The Veterinary Record 156:401-407 (2005)
© 2005 British Veterinary Association
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Papers and Articles
Pathogenesis of experimental bovine spongiform encephalopathy: preclinical
infectivity in tonsil and observations on the distribution of lingual tonsil
in slaughtered cattle
G. A. H. Wells, BVetMed, FRCPath, DipECVP, DipACVP, MRCVS1, J. Spiropoulos,
DVM, PhD, MRCVS1, S. A. C. Hawkins, MIBiol1 and S. J. Ryder, MA, VetMB,
CertVR, PhD, MRCVS1
1 Veterinary Laboratories Agency ? Weybridge, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey
KT15 3NB
The infectivity in tissues from cattle exposed orally to the agent of BSE
was assayed by the intracerebral inoculation of cattle. In addition to the
infectivity in the central nervous system and distal ileum at stages of
pathogenesis previously indicated by mouse bioassay, traces of infectivity
were found in the palatine tonsil of cattle killed 10 months after exposure.
Because the infectivity may therefore be present throughout the tonsils in
cattle infected with BSE, observations were made of the anatomical and
histological distribution of lingual tonsil in the root of the tongue of
cattle. Examinations of tongues derived from abattoirs in Britain and
intended for human consumption showed that macroscopically identifiable
tonsillar tissue was present in more than 75 per cent of them, and even in
the tongues in which no visible tonsillar tissue remained, histological
examination revealed lymphoid tissue in more than 90 per cent. Variations in
the distribution of the lingual tonsil suggested that even after the most
rigorous trimming of the root of the tongue, traces of tonsillar tissue may
remain.
http://veterinaryrecord.bvapublications.com/cgi/content/abstract/156/13/...
Annex A.2 Distribution of infectivity in animal tissue and body fluids
http://www.advisorybodies.doh.gov.uk/acdp/tseguidance/tseguidance_annexa...
SPECIFIED RISK MATERIALS
http://madcowspontaneousnot.blogspot.com/2008/02/specified-risk-material...
Sunday, March 16, 2008
MAD COW DISEASE terminology UK c-BSE (typical), atypical BSE H or L, and or
Italian L-BASE
http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2008/03/mad-cow-disease-terminology-uk-...
SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM FROM DOWNER CATTLE UPDATE
http://downercattle.blogspot.com/
SRM MAD COW RECALL 406 THOUSAND POUNDS CATTLE HEADS WITH TONSILS KANSAS
http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/2008/04/srm-mad-cow-recall-406-...
Terry S. Singeltary Sr.
P.O. Box 42
Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
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