(Gloria Solano-Aguilar photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

West’s hog farmers urged to insist trailers cleaned in Canada

Hog industry officials in Western Canada want hog producers to insist that livestock trailers coming to their farms be washed at certified Canadian cleaning facilities — even if the trailers were just cleaned on the U.S. side of the border. The recommendation comes as a federally-approved trailer-wash pilot project, credited with helping to keep porcine epidemic diarrhea […] Read more

(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Two more states’ eggs, poultry allowed into Canada

Cross-border travellers may again bring raw poultry meat, eggs and live birds into Canada from North Dakota and Missouri. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency last week shortened its list of U.S. states under avian influenza-related restrictions to just one. Indiana remains under limits imposed in January after highly pathogenic (“high-path”) H7N8 avian flu turned up at […] Read more





(USDA.gov via Flickr)

USDA clears Monsanto, Syngenta corn traits

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will no longer regulate a genetically-modified corn developed by Monsanto to resist dicamba herbicide, the agency said on Wednesday. The move by the agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), means it can now be planted without permits or any additional regulatory oversight from […] Read more




(MinaHalal.com)

Federal rules arrive on halal food claims

Any food marketed in Canada as certified halal in its labeling or ads will have to include the name of its halal certifying body, starting next month. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said Wednesday the two-year grace period it launched in 2014 for halal labelling and advertising requirements will end April 4. Past that […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Canada presses China on science in canola trade spat

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada is urging the Chinese government to stick to scientific facts in decisions on trade as Beijing plans to toughen its standard on Canadian canola shipments, federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay said Thursday. China’s quarantine authority, AQSIQ, notified the Canadian Food Inspection Agency last month that it would allow no more […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Blackleg, big stocks seen behind China-Canada canola conflict

Reuters — A “scientific disagreement” between Canada and China over the risk of transmitting the blackleg fungus is behind China’s move to raise its standard for Canadian canola imports, an industry official involved in discussions said. But some traders say the real reason for a higher standard that may slow Chinese imports is the country’s […] Read more