Province Prepares To Take Over Meat Inspection Services
Prince George, BC – In preparation for taking over responsibility for meat inspection services at provincially licensed abattoirs, the BC Government is soliciting advice from the industry.
Since the 1980s, the province has contracted with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to provide inspections at Class A and B licensed plants, but the responsibility will fall back to the government at the end of 2013.
The Ministry of Health has just completed a comprehensive review of options to ensure BC continues to province most effective, safe inspection system possible when CFIA steps out of the role. (click here, to view full report)
To receive feedback on the report’s recommendations, the government, led by the Minister of Agriculture, is launching public consultations with industry stakeholders.
Minister Don McRae says, "I look forward to listening to those with an interest in food safety to hear how we can work together to build a world-class meat inspection system that protects and enhances BC’s reputation as a trusted source of high-quality, nutritious food both domestically and abroad."
Comments
Another thing they shouldn’t be sticking their noses into. Watch prices triple.
acrider – the meat you buy at the grocery store is not processed in the province. If you want to buy beef that has been raised and processed locally, you’ll have to visit your local butcher or buy directly from the ranch.
This industry has been so screwed up by changing regulations. Let’s hope the province can set things right
Thanks, for that curmudgeonscurse. We try to buy local most times.
I thought we were no longer allowed to buy directly from the ranch. Well, hells bells,
I know where there’s still a buffalo or two on ranches, and lambs. Course that depends on whether I fill the freezer with moose….
acrider, it shouldn’t cost any more for the product because it is all inspected now. The only difference is that it will be the province doing it instead of the federal govt. Anything you buy at one of the local places is inspected now because none of these places want a lawsuit in case someone gets sick from something. If you buy direct from the farm you have no idea what that animal ate and whether it has BSE or any other disease. Federally inspected meat is tested for these things. I am not sure if the province will test everything but I assume it will.
Current rules require all domestic meat for sale or trade to be slaughter inspected. One can still slaughter there own animals on their own farm for immediate family usage, however if you take them to be cut and wrapped they will be stamped “Not for Resale”.
Meat from animals slaughtered at Provincially approved and inspected facilities can sell there products provincial wide. In order to sell inter provincial meat is required to be slaughtered at a Federally approved and inspected facility.
Current rules require all domestic meat for sale or trade to be slaughter inspected. One can still slaughter there own animals on their own farm for immediate family usage, however if you take them to be cut and wrapped they will be stamped “Not for Resale”.
Meat from animals slaughtered at Provincially approved and inspected facilities can sell there products provincial wide. In order to sell inter provincial meat is required to be slaughtered at a Federally approved and inspected facility.
So Duffer you think that meat that has been processed through the industrial food model is safer for you and your family?
And you think that every cut of meat has been inpected all the way through the process?
Good luck.
It is legal in Canada to purchase meat from the farmer/rancher if the animal has been slaughtered in a licensed facility.
It may comfort you to learn that these facilities are inspected regularly. There is a first class slaughterhouse right here in Prince George, one of the first to be licensed in B.C. under the regulations that arose in the wake of the BSE crisis.
If you want to support your local people buy your meat from a locally owned butcher shop, or from your friendly local farmer.
metalman.
Metalman, I am not saying every cut will be inspected but every animal will be. As far as everyone buying local it won’t happen. There are not enough cattle in B.C. to feed all of the province. The cattle herd in Canada is the lowest it has been since 1952. If you can buy from the local guys that is great, but they don’t always have what I need.
The point I was trying to get across is that costs are not going to increase because of the change from federal to provincial. It will be from fewer cattle being slaughtered.
Personally, I would not buy directly from a farmer, but I would buy from any inspected facility, especially the local one.
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