Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s chicken processors have a year to make plant-level changes to cut the risk of salmonella infection from frozen raw breaded chicken goods. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said March 12 it will require processors to identify salmonella as a hazard likely to occur in these products — and to “implement changes in order to […] Read more

CFIA seeks ‘fundamental change’ in chicken processing

Our CRISPR future
New technology promises to shove traditional GMO breeding aside, with huge gains for growers
Reading Time: 7 minutes Where were you when… you heard of GPS or Bt corn for the first time? Both were seminal moments of the past 25 years in agriculture that have led to further innovation and advances, increasing growers’ efficiency and productivity at practically every step of the way. Now, CRISPR technology represents another of these seminal moments, […] Read more

Livestock premises ID participation strengthens Canadian agriculture
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is considering changes to the Health of Animals Regulations for livestock traceability, the agency announced during PremisesIDWeek July 26, a federal release says. The changes would require all Canadian operators of premises where livestock may be loaded or unloaded from a vehicle to have a valid premises identification number for […] Read more

Back in business after bovine TB
When Brad Osadczuk lost his entire herd to TB, he discovered which attitudes and skills really are essential for starting over
Reading Time: 8 minutes [Updated June 7, 2017] Brad Osadczuk’s ranch at Jenner, Alta., is eerily quiet in what would normally be the start of a very busy calving season. His pens are empty, not a cow is in sight. This calving season, Osadczuk is a different kind of busy. He must find a new normal, since losing his […] Read more

Flour recall widened to products from 11 loads of wheat
Reading Time: 2 minutes The maker of Robin Hood and other brands of flour is further widening a major product recall to cover products made from 11 loads of Canadian wheat. Ardent Mills and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Saturday announced an expanded nationwide recall to include more varieties and sizes of Robin Hood, Golden Temple, Purity, […] Read more

CFIA approves camelina oil for use in Atlantic salmon feed
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has approved mechanically-extracted camelina oil as a feed ingredient for farmed salmon and trout, Genome Atlantic says in a release. That paves the way for the oilseed to serve as a new rotation option for Maritime potato farmers. Camelina sativa, or false flax, is a hardy oilseed plant that […] Read more

Heading off a stem rust pandemic
Only two older wheat varieties are resistant to Ug99, a devastating race of stem rust which threatens to spread around the world
Reading Time: 5 minutes Working under tight security in their plant science laboratory at Morden, Man., Tom Fetch and his scientific colleagues look as if they’re handling extremely hazardous material. After changing into hospital scrubs in a locker room, Fetch and his team deactivate an alarm system and go through four doors to enter the laboratory. The Level 3 […] Read more

Six quarantines lifted in bovine TB probe
Reading Time: < 1 minute Six premises deemed to be “low-risk” have been released from federal quarantine as officials continue their hunt for Alberta and Saskatchewan cattle exposed to bovine tuberculosis. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Wednesday reported it had lifted movement controls on six premises where “appropriate testing” has been completed on cattle so far in the agency’s […] Read more

Alberta Beef Producers call for TB financial support
Reading Time: 2 minutes With cattle under quarantine in parts of Alberta after a TB case was discovered in an animal from that province at a U.S. slaughter facility, the bills are starting to stack up. Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) recently said in an online publication that a significant number of herds have been quarantined and the producers notified. […] Read more

Canada now avian flu-free
Reading Time: 2 minutes With no new cases in poultry since April and no farms in quarantine since July, Canada has officially declared itself free of avian influenza. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Thursday it has informed the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE) that Ontario is free of notifiable avian flu. No new outbreaks of highly pathogenic […] Read more