Regulatory

Comment

Comment by Doug Worthington on May 4, 2009 at 11:34am

There are only few Ctegagroy 1 countries that can source SRM free product and the importation costs are prohitive. Thanks for your ideas and thoughts. Since you live and work in Canada, should you have opportunity to ask, see what the current thoughts might be on the prohibition of pet food imports from the US except from beef-free dedicated facilities. Thanks again.

Comment by Jeffrey Michael Bond on May 4, 2009 at 9:00am

This sounds like something that the USDA and CFIA will need to work out. I would think that if the inputs are SRM free then so would the outputs which would be satisfactory to the CFIA provided there is an appropriate paper trail. Any way to source out SRM free ingredients that would work?

Comment by Doug Worthington on May 1, 2009 at 12:10pm

Yes, we have directly contacted the CFIA. To be sure if we were SRM free there is no problem however, we cannot meet that standard. My primary question is if rendering plants become SRM free and we obtain our beef products from them then does that meet the SRM free requirement for CFIA. It seems to me that the USDA is moving that direction with their efforts to certify rendering plants as SRM free zones. As of right now, the proposed CFIA rules would not allow for any type of clean-out procedure that might meet the standard's intent nor does it allow for any beef by-product any where within the plant. We are too small to dedicate facilities for SRM free manufacture. Very frustrating situation.

Comment by Jeffrey Michael Bond on May 1, 2009 at 11:48am

I would contact the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) as they are the governing body on all of this. I would suspect that if plants are SRM free and HACCP certified as well as audited that they might be allowed but I would contact the CFIA directly. Given a bit of time I could likely track down the contact person there.

Comment by Doug Worthington on April 21, 2009 at 4:47pm

Canada is proposing to limit US imports from pet food manufacturers who have not dedicated facilities free of beef by-products. The USDA is proposing certification of rendering plants that are SRM-free. Does anyone know if USDA does this, then can we use US rendered beef sources and then ship to Canada? I realize that this is all in discussion as of right now, but it looks like it may go forward. Anyone have any ideas on the way this might go?