(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Canadian beef again moving to China

Reading Time: < 1 minute Federal inspectors are again issuing certificates for exports of Canadian beef to China, as Beijing’s temporary ban on the Canadian product comes to an end. The Chinese government in late February announced a temporary ban on imports of Canadian beef, shortly after Canada confirmed its first case of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in a domestic […] Read more

(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Third Ont. farm with avian flu cleared of birds

Reading Time: 2 minutes Updated, April 29, 2015 — Ontario is urging poultry farmers to look into the AgriStability income stabilization plan, after the province’s third poultry farm to catch H5N2 avian flu this month has put down all its turkeys. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed Monday that “humane depopulation” has already been completed at the Bright, Ont. […] Read more


(Dave Bedard file photo)

Second avian flu control zone set up in SW Ontario

Reading Time: 3 minutes A federal control zone has been officially set up for a 10-kilometre radius around the Oxford County chicken farm that’s home to Ontario’s second outbreak of H5N2 avian flu. This control zone, which covers ground in both Oxford County and Waterloo County, is an “internationally accepted practice,” meant to allow export business to continue from non-infected […] Read more

(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Ont. chicken farm’s avian flu confirmed as high-path H5N2

Reading Time: < 1 minute The avian flu that swept a broiler breeder chicken operation in southwestern Ontario’s Oxford County has been confirmed as highly pathogenic H5N2. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said Sunday its lab tests in Winnipeg have confirmed the virus’ pathogenicity and subtype. The farm, southwest of Kitchener, was quarantined Saturday after preliminary tests confirmed a […] Read more


(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

SW Ont. broiler farm quarantined with avian flu

Reading Time: 2 minutes A second poultry farm in southwestern Ontario’s Oxford County is now under federal quarantine with what tests show to be avian flu. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Saturday it had placed the farm — a broiler breeder chicken operation west of Ayr, Ont., south of Kitchener — under quarantine after preliminary tests Friday at […] Read more



(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Ont. turkey farm’s avian flu confirmed as H5N2

Reading Time: 3 minutes A quarantined southwestern Ontario turkey farm has been confirmed with the same strain of highly pathogenic H5N2 avian flu seen on farms in British Columbia and several U.S. states. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Wednesday that samples tested at its National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg have confirmed the virus’ subtype and […] Read more

(Dave Bedard file photo)

Canada blocking poultry from Montana, South Dakota

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada is blocking cross-border shopping for raw poultry, eggs and live birds from another border state, after H5N2 avian flu was confirmed in central Montana on Friday. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Friday expanded restrictions that block travellers to Canada from H5N2-positive states from bringing in live birds, hatching eggs, eggs, yolks, egg […] Read more


(Canada Beef Inc. photo)

CFIA defends meat inspection staffing, service levels

Reading Time: 2 minutes Shifts in federal meat inspection staffing levels and work priorities are the result of a “risk-based, outcome-based” approach to food safety, not cuts, Canadian Food Inspection Agency brass say. CFIA was responding this week to allegations by its inspectors’ union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada’s (PSAC) Agriculture Union, that the agency is “quietly unravelling” […] Read more

(Canada Beef Inc. photo)

Canada reducing number of meat inspections, union says

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters –– The Canadian government, under pressure to eliminate its budget deficit, has reduced the frequency of inspections at certain Alberta meat-packing plants and plans to cut spending on food safety, the food inspectors’ union said on Tuesday. The cutbacks follow two major meat recalls over foodborne illness in recent years. Ottawa had […] Read more