The Rural Voice, 2003-10, Page 11National Farmers Union - Ontario NEWSLETTER
Ontario Office: R.R. 2, Godfrey, ON KOH 1T0 - Phone: 613-273-5545
Email: nfuo@rideau.net Website: www.nfu.ca/on
Meat inspection fiasco
calls for immediate acti
The provincial government needs
to get its act together on meat
inspection. Failure to do so may spell
the end of family farms and
consumer choice in Ontario
according to the National Farmers
Union.
NFU Women's Advisor Ann
Slater says, "At a time when
beleaguered livestock farmers need
continued support from consumers
and from government, the Ontario
Minister of Agriculture has
disappeared. The people of Ontario
do not need one more reason to
question the safety of our meat
supply. The vast majority of abattoirs
in the province are doing an excellent
job but we need to know that the
government has the safeguards in
place to detect any potential
problems."
Slater says, "Since the Conserva-
tive government reduced the number
of full-time meat inspectors from 142
to 8, the meat inspection force has
been made up primarily of low paid,
low morale contract inspectors with
limited experience and training.
While this situation has clearly led to
inaction on alleged difficulties at one
facility, it has also caused
inconsistency and harassment of the
many reputable abattoirs in the
province and a high turnover rate
among inspectors."
David Pullen, President of the
Perth -Oxford Local of the NFU,
says, "These small abattoirs represent
a very important link between family
farms and consumers since they
process meats for small farms who
sell their products directly to
consumers. More and more
consumers are seeking out direct
relationships with farmers to know
where their food is coming from,
how it is produced, and now, where it
is being processed. It seems ironic
that the infrastructure to make this
relationship happen is now being
threatens family farms and consumer choice: NFU
on on provincial meat inspection
destroyed."
The NFU is concerned that the
failure of the provincial government
to address problems with provincial
meat inspection may erode consumer
confidence in these important small,
local, provincially -inspected
facilities, leading to further inability
of family farms to market their own
products. Larger, federally -inspected
meat processors are in most cases
unable to give farmers back meats
from their own animals to sell to
their customers. Their interest is in
processing large volumes of
undifferentiated product for
wholesale to supermarket chains and
fast food chains.
NFU members are concerned that
the Minister of Agriculture and her
office failed to even respond to an
invitation from the NFU to attend an
important meeting of farmers,
consumers, meat inspectors, and
small abattoir operators in Stratford
in June 2003. Following the
meeting, a number of recommen-
dations were put forward to the
government including a call:
• to reinstate experienced, full-time
meat inspectors specific to small
plants,
• to create incentive programs for
small plants to meet standards,
• to create training programs for
aspiring meat cutters and
butchers, and
• for standards and inspectors
tailored to small plants.
It is now apparent the Minister of
Agriculture was informed more than
a year ago of problems with the
Ontario meat inspection system and
has failed to make any
improvements.
NFU member Bruce Hunter says,
"This continued neglect of a potential
food -safety issue does little to
support the small and medium-
sized farmers of the province and the
provincially -inspected abattoirs
that they rely on. NFU members
have a total and absolute
commitment to provide safe,
nutritious and plentiful food to
society. A strong government -run
inspection system that is fair to small
abattoirs and meat processors is
essential to farm families and their
communities."0
SPECI
COMING EVENT
AL NFU REGION 3 CONVENTION AND
NFU -ONTARIO GENERAL MEETING
Saturday, November 1
AW Hall, 1425 Philip Murray Avenue, Oshawa
NFU 34TH CONVENTION
November 20 - 22
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
PERTH -OXFORD LOCAL MEETING
October 9 N 7:30 p.m.
St. Marys Public Library
OCTOBER 2003 7