The Saskatchewan, Alberta and federal governments on Jan. 19 announced the start of a two-year pilot project within the limits of Lloydminster, a city of over 31,000 people straddling the two provinces’ shared border.

In Canada, commercial movement of food across a provincial border is normally allowed only when a business producing such food holds a valid federal licence. Each province has constitutional responsibilities for local commerce, and thus may have different inspection requirements for any food that’s produced for sale strictly within that province.

So until now, if a bakery somewhere in Saskatchewan was to supply products to be sold at a restaurant on the Alberta side of Lloydminster, it would first have to meet federal requirements under the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations and be licensed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

As of Jan. 19, under the pilot program to be administered by the Lloydminster Chamber of Commerce, participating provincially-licensed food businesses may trade into all of Lloydminster — including the part that’s not in their own province.

The pilot would not, however, allow those participating businesses to ship food anywhere else in the neighbouring province outside the Lloydminster city limits.

Put another way, a Saskatchewan government spokesperson said, the goal of the pilot “is for safe food to move into and within the city as if there was no provincial border.”

Businesses eligible to apply for the pilot and sell anywhere within Lloydminster would include:

• food facilities under Alberta jurisdiction permitted by Alberta Health Services;
• slaughter and/or processed meat facilities in Alberta that meet regulatory requirements for legal sale in Alberta;
• food facilities under Saskatchewan jurisdiction licensed by the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) or defined as a food facility in that province’s Food Safety Regulations;
• slaughter and/or processed meat facilities in Saskatchewan that meet regulatory requirements for legal sale in Saskatchewan; and
• certain food businesses in either Alberta or Saskatchewan that “conduct activities” on fresh fruits or vegetables — for example, minimal processing, grading, and packaging/labelling — even when a provincial licence or permit is not required.

Examples of businesses not eligible to take part in the pilot would include Alberta food businesses without a valid license; home-based food processors not subject to routine inspection; Saskatchewan businesses with probationary provincial licenses; on-farm slaughter operations in Alberta; and makers of “any meat product produced with no regulatory oversight.”

Any CFIA-inspected businesses holding valid federal Safe Food for Canadians licenses are “not impacted” by the pilot, the city said.

The outcome of the pilot is meant to inform a future package of amendments to the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations that would address Lloydminster’s “unique situation.”

(The only other Canadian city in such a situation is Flin Flon, which straddles the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border.)

CFIA on Jan. 16 posted a notice of intent to make such amendments at a later date. The Lloydminster pilot is to operate until Jan. 19, 2025 or until the CFIA’s proposed amendments take effect, whichever comes first.

The SHA already provides food inspection oversight within all of Lloydminster, including the Alberta side of the city, and “will continue to carry out its responsibility” for that work during the pilot period, a provincial spokesperson said via email.

Also, CFIA “will continue to work with the SHA on food complaints and food safety investigations,” the spokesperson said.

“Lloydminster food businesses have been asking for a solution for their unique issues for years, and this pilot project is an exciting step toward a solution,” Alberta’s Agriculture Minister Nate Horner said Jan. 19 in a release.

“I look forward to seeing how our efforts to reduce red tape on food trade will make life better in Lloydminster and inspire further reductions to interprovincial trade barriers.”

Edmonton MP and federal Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault in the same release described the cross-border pilot as “another example of how the federal government along with provincial-territorial partners are taking action to improve domestic trade and support economic growth for everyone.”

“Current interprovincial trade restrictions are barriers for many farmers and ranchers who are interested in direct marketing beef across provincial jurisdictions,” Brodie Haugan, a cattle producer at Orion, Alta. and finance chair with Alberta Beef Producers, said in a separate release.

Haugan described the pilot as “an encouraging step in the need to explore solutions to this ongoing challenge.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Ukraine’s grain exports have proceeded more slowly since a U.N.-brokered deal was extended last week to help ease global hunger, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Vasyl Bodnar, Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey, attributed the slowdown to uncertainty last week over renewing the deal and also Russia’s refusal to speed up inspections and increase the number of teams from three currently.

Aleksey Erkhov, Russia’s ambassador, said Russia “strictly complies with its obligations” under the grain export deal, which requires parties to form three inspection teams.

“Based on this, the number and composition of the Russian delegation to the JCC were established,” he said, adding that Russia sends its representatives to one or two additional inspection teams daily due to the increased number of vessels.

“This is done as a gesture of goodwill and by reducing the time intended for inspectors to rest in accordance with labour law,” Erkhov said in an emailed response to Reuters’ questions.

A U.N. spokesperson, Ismini Palla, the U.N. spokesperson for the Black Sea Grain Initiative in Istanbul, has said three inspection teams have operated in the last two weeks.

The Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul said on Thursday the delegations were discussing ways to increase the number of successful inspections, adding that it planned to deploy four teams for inspections on Friday.

Since the agreement was extended beyond Nov. 19, no more than five ships a day have departed Ukraine, U.N. data show, down from previous weeks and months when up to 10 departed.

On two of the last four days, only one ship left Ukraine’s ports, while two left on Friday.

In response to Bodnar’s statement that Russian teams were slowing down the checks “probably with intent,” Erkhov said the duration of inspections is determined by objective factors.

The duration “can be reduced only by formalizing the approach to this process. Such an approach, actively promoted by the Ukrainian delegation, is unacceptable for the Russian side,” he added.

The deal, between Moscow and Kyiv that was also brokered by Ankara, unblocked exports that were stalled in Ukraine’s Black Sea ports after Russia’s invasion. It began in July and was extended last week through March, easing global food prices.

Ukraine and Russia are major global grain exporters. They agreed that teams would check the vessels to ensure no barred people or goods are arriving at or departing from Ukrainian ports.

There were between zero to six inspections per day in the seven days to Nov. 23, and eight each on Thursday and Friday, U.N. data show. That compares to five to eight daily inspections in the previous week and up to 11 in the one before. Palla has said vessel flows were affected by past uncertainty over extending the deal, poor weather conditions and a rotation of new staff and inspectors at the JCC.

— Ali Kucukgocmen is a Reuters political correspondent based in Istanbul.

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Wheat futures fell on a lack of fresh supportive news and an upturn in the dollar, which tends to make U.S. grains less competitive globally.

Chicago Board of Trade March soybeans closed 14-1/2 cents higher at $13.61-1/2 per bushel after earlier reaching $13.78-1/4, the highest price on a continuous chart of the most-active contract since June 2014 (all figures US$).

CBOT March corn added 3-1/4 cents to $4.95 per bushel after reaching $5.02-3/4 in mid-session trading, the highest benchmark corn price since May 2014.

March wheat slipped 6-1/2 cents to $6.47-1/2 per bushel.

Dry weather continues to threaten soy and corn yield prospects in Argentina, and labor issues in the South American country have added to concerns about supplies.

“A water deficit persists mainly in Argentina, leading to fears of a downward revision of corn production,” consultancy Agritel said.

The union representing Argentine port-side grain inspectors was to meet on Wednesday with agro-export companies to try to clinch a wage deal to end a strike that started on Dec. 9.

Underscoring recent volatility in the grain markets, the CME Group, parent of the CBOT, said it would raise the margins to trade its soybean, corn and wheat futures after Wednesday’s close.

“We have shaken some shorts out of the market with the CME increasing their (margins) … If we continue to see a rally in this market, margins could potentially go up again,” said Terry Reilly, senior analyst with Futures International.

Meanwhile, traders have begun adjusting their positions ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s next monthly supply/demand report on Jan. 12, in which the government will release updated estimates of U.S. and South American crop production and usage.

— Reporting for Reuters by Christopher Walljasper; additional reporting by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Colin Packham in Sydney.

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Under a new rule that takes effect immediately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will allow companies such as Cargill and Sonstegard Foods to use different food-safety systems and procedures designed for their factories and equipment.

The change marks the Trump administration’s latest move to ease government regulations over the nation’s food system. Some inspectors and public-interest groups have warned food safety may suffer as a result.

The new rule affects 83 plants that USDA has been inspecting, according to the agency. USDA will also assume oversight from the Food and Drug Administration of additional facilities that produce egg substitutes.

Inspectors will visit plants once per shift, instead of being there whenever egg products are being processed.

The change, first proposed in 2018, makes inspections consistent with those for meat and poultry products, said Paul Kiecker, administrator of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. Inspectors will operate under a “patrol” system, in which they will cover multiple plants each day, he said.

“We feel very confident that, based on the once per shift that we have them there, we’ll still be able to verify that they’re producing safe product,” he said.

Environmental group Food & Water Watch said in 2018 the patrol system may make inspections less effective.

The new rule aims to make better use of inspectors and allow companies to develop new food-safety procedures, Kiecker said.

Companies must implement standard operating procedures for sanitation and food-safety management systems known as hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP).

“We are giving them more of the responsibility to ensure that they are producing safe products,” Kiecker said.

The coronavirus pandemic disrupted egg product sales this spring, as closures of restaurants, schools and offices reduced demand.

— Tom Polansek reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago.

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Trudeau added that beef producers are placing a priority on supplying the Canadian market before exporting products.

Canada, one of the world’s biggest beef and pork exporters, has had several plants idled or slowed as coronavirus inspections spread. Cargill on Monday said it would idle its High River, Alta. beef plant because of an outbreak.

“We are not at this point anticipating shortages of beef, but prices might go up,” Trudeau said at a briefing. “We will of course be monitoring that very, very carefully.”

The tally of coronavirus cases related to the Cargill plant has reached 401, Alberta chief medical health officer Deena Hinshaw said. Another 77 cases have occurred at the JBS beef plant at Brooks, Alta.

North American meat demand has plunged since the pandemic accelerated, as a loss of sales to restaurants, which have closed, outweighs additional revenue from grocery stores.

Beef processors have assured Canadian officials they will prioritize domestic sales, their largest and most stable market, said Oliver Anderson, spokesman for the country’s agriculture minister. The government has not imposed export restrictions, he said.

JBS has reduced production to one shift as of Tuesday at Brooks due to increased absenteeism, said spokesman Cameron Bruett.

Ottawa is “very concerned about outbreaks in the food supply chain,” Health Minister Patty Hajdu told reporters.

Meat processors have taken numerous measures, such as erecting physical barriers and staggering breaks. But those steps and supplies of protective equipment are not applied equally in all plants, said Paul Meinema, national president of the United Food and Commercial Workers. The union represents employees in the country’s biggest meat factories run by Cargill, JBS, Maple Leaf Foods and Olymel.

The plants should slow processing speeds and even shut them down before infections multiply, Meinema said.

Even some government inspectors who work in the plants lack face shields and non-surgical masks, said the Agriculture Union, which represents them.

“There is obviously a shortage,” Agriculture Union president Fabian Murphy said. Seven inspectors in the Cargill plant have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, he said.

Canada’s coronavirus death toll was 1,728 as of Tuesday, a seven per cent rise from the previous day. There have been 37,382 cases reported.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said a framework to reopen the economy of Canada’s most populous province would come in a few days. On Monday, Ford said any return would be gradual.

Air Canada, the country’s biggest airline, said it would suspend flights between Canada and the United States after April 26.

— Reporting for Reuters by Kelsey Johnson and Rod Nickel; additional reporting by David Ljunggren and Steve Scherer in Ottawa and Amran Abocar in Toronto.

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With meat packers and food processing plants considering extended hours as they adjust to taking extra measures to combat the pandemic, CFIA was in need of a response to ensure its inspections would continue.

COVID-19 entering processing plants and forcing workers off the job is one of the biggest threats currently facing Canada’s food supply. Already there have been temporary closures at plants in different parts of the country.

“It’s a huge challenge they have to go through right now, putting in place all the measures necessary to meet the provincial public health protocols to protect their employees, including the inspectors,” Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said.

Such closures, she said, are a business decision and she recognizes there will be short periods of disruption at packing and processing plants, but is hopeful once safety measures are put in place the industry will be in a better position to move forward.

The federal government is monitoring the situation and is expected to take additional steps if needed.

“This is a big challenge that the whole supply chain is facing right now,” Bibeau said, adding the federal government is looking at other options but “it’s too soon for me to tell you how we will proceed.”

The $20 million in funding announced Tuesday is primarily to ensure there will be more inspectors available for CFIA to employ. Federal food inspection officials will be working with their provincial counterparts — and vice-versa — and the agency expects to bring in veterinarians and some of its recently retired inspectors to work.

Bibeau said she is aware there could be an increase in demand for CFIA inspectors as processors look to extend their operating hours, as a means of compensating for lower production levels due to COVID-19 mitigation.

“We wanted to add enough inspectors and enough flexibility to make sure if there is a slowdown in the production, it wouldn’t be because CFIA was not able to meet the demand,” she said.

The money is also expected to help develop “flexible ways to carry out inspections,” such as through the expanded use of tablets and other electronic tools and of the CFIA’s remote service delivery network.

The federal opposition Conservatives’ agriculture critic John Barlow said in a statement it is “urgent” for the food supply system that processing plants remain open.

Already CFIA had announced a suspension of low-risk activities, saying it would halt work that does not immediately impact the production of food safety. Food safety investigations, import inspection and emergency management are all being considered high priorities.

Meat packer Olymel temporarily suspended operations at a Quebec kill-and-cut facility after nine cases of COVID-19 were found among its staff. Two beef packing plants in Alberta, responsible for a significant portion of the country’s total processing capacity, have also announced reduced production to combat the pandemic.

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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The partial closure follows a positive COVID-19 test by a worker at U.S. chicken company Sanderson Farms announced this week.

The spread of COVID-19 has led to consumer hoarding of staple groceries, making meat processing more lucrative.

Alberta’s health department notified Harmony on Thursday that a worker who had not been on the job for days had tested positive, Harmony spokesman Crosbie Cotton said. The company then sent the other workers in his part of the slaughter area home for 14 days, even though they did not display symptoms.

In a statement, CFIA confirmed it did not provide inspection services on Friday after it learned that a Harmony employee had tested positive for COVID-19.

Federally regulated slaughter plants are not allowed to operate without inspectors present.

The plant at Balzac, just north of Calgary, can process 750 head of cattle per day, much less than bigger Alberta plants owned by Cargill and JBS. While slaughter has halted at Harmony, it is still carrying out other types of processing, Cotton said.

Harmony, owned by the Vesta family, hopes to fully reopen on Monday pending talks with CFIA, he said.

Alberta produces more beef than any other Canadian province.

Meat production is so profitable currently that Cargill and JBS have added Saturday shifts, said Kevin Grier, a meat and livestock analyst.

Meat plants have gone to great lengths to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including assembly of tents and trailers to create greater distance among workers, Grier said.

Harmony screens every worker daily for symptoms and increased cleaning in the plant weeks ago, Cotton said.

CFIA told meat processing plants last week it would reduce the agency’s staffed hours at domestic plants because of capacity constraints.

— Reporting for Reuters by Kelsey Johnson in Ottawa and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg.

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Speaking to media Saturday in Ottawa, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau addressed concerns surrounding the ability of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to continue meat inspection work.

The Reuters news service on Monday quoted two unnamed sources directly familiar with the matter as saying CFIA had informed meat packers on Friday that it plans to reduce its staffed hours at federally inspected plants, because of capacity constraints.

It’s not yet clear when the reduced staffing — which would end overtime and Saturday shifts — would take effect, Reuters reported.

The agency’s announcement comes amid a coronavirus-related spike in meat demand as consumers stockpile food, which has turned up in the past few days in rising cash prices for livestock and in feeder cattle and lean hog futures.

“There are challenges around human resources at CFIA, mainly for our inspectors,” Bibeau said, adding she is working with industry and provinces on the issue.

She said she is working with the industry and is consulting the provinces on how they can share resources, such as provincial inspectors, and “find different ways to make (the process) easier and faster,” she said.

CFIA is also calling back inspectors who have retired recently, she said.

She acknowledged there’s “a challenge in terms of capacity, but we are working it out right now.”

Gary Stordy, director of government and corporate affairs for the Canadian Pork Council, said there is a heightened focus on safety, but also on flexibility.

“At the end of the day, we need to have some flexibility in order to make sure that those plants continue to operate,” he said, adding there is not going to be a shortage or drop in the number of hogs available.

“Those animals need a place to be shipped to, and frankly they don’t always have time to wait.”

Stordy said he is not expecting any noticeable impacts on the consumer.

“The plants are taking steps to prevent any severe disruption in their operations, they are building up supplies, they are taking steps to protect employees. They have animals coming through, and all these measures are really to prevent a major disruption,” he said, adding there are already what he characterized as “irritants, delays and increased costs.”

— D.C. Fraser reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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The warnings about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s first update of inspection procedures at hog slaughterhouses in more than 50 years come after several high-profile recalls in the meat sector.

USDA earlier on Tuesday published a final version of rules that will eliminate limits on how fast companies such as Tyson Foods and WH Group’s Smithfield Foods can slaughter pigs — a change long sought by meatpackers.

The companies can instead determine their own slaughter speeds based on their ability to prevent fecal contamination and minimize bacteria, according to the rules.

Packers can also have employees, rather than USDA workers, remove meat with certain defects from the slaughtering process. Government inspectors will continue to check all live animals before they are killed as well as meat products after slaughter.

The changes could contribute to food contamination, said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of advocacy group Food + Water Watch.

“The implementation of the rule will result in the fox guarding the henhouse,” Hauter said.

Tyson Foods, the biggest U.S. meat producer, slowed chicken processing to protect food safety this year after it recalled millions of pounds of poultry products over concerns they contained extraneous materials like rubber and metal.

Tyson and Smithfield did not immediately respond to requests for comment on USDA’s new rules. The North American Meat Institute, which represents the packers, said companies will continue to produce safe pork.

Slower processing leads to higher costs for companies and limits profits, but advocates say extra caution protects workers.

“Increasing pork plant line speeds is a reckless corporate giveaway that would put thousands of workers in harm’s way as they are forced to meet impossible demands,” said Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International union, which represents slaughterhouse employees.

USDA ran a pilot program for the new rules that was announced in 1997. Participating slaughterhouses do not operate significantly faster than the current maximum speed of 1,106 pigs per hour, according to the agency.

The pilot program showed the rules are unlikely to cause a higher prevalence of salmonella on pork and may reduce the prevalence of salmonella, USDA said. Under the new rules, the agency will require hog slaughterhouses to establish procedures to prevent meat from being contaminated by certain pathogens and fecal material.

“This regulatory change allows us to ensure food safety while eliminating outdated rules and allowing for companies to innovate,” USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said.

— Tom Polansek reports on agriculture and ag commodities for Reuters from Chicago.

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USDA had “recurring concerns about the safety of the products intended for the American market,” after increasing tests on Brazilian beef in March, according to a statement.

The agency raised scrutiny on Brazilian beef and ready-to-eat products as a precaution following an investigation into corruption involving Brazil’s health inspectors that targeted meat companies JBS SA and BRF SA.

JBS, the world’s largest meat packer, declined to comment on the U.S. ban.

USDA’s action threatens the reputation of meat from Brazil, the world’s top exporter of beef and poultry, even though the U.S. is not a top customer. It also could boost domestic sales in the United States.

“Product was already on the water and that’s not going to be allowed in,” Altin Kalo, a U.S. livestock analyst at Steiner Consulting Group, said about shipments headed to the U.S. from Brazil via boat.

Since March, USDA has rejected 11 per cent of Brazilian fresh beef products, compared to the rejection rate of one per cent for shipments from the rest of the world, the agency said. The shipments, totaling about 1.9 million lbs., raised concerns about public health, animal health and sanitation, according to USDA.

The agency said none of the rejected lots made it into the U.S. market.

The move to block Brazilian meat is a turnaround for Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who warned in March that Brazil might retaliate if the U.S. halted beef imports.

On Thursday, he said in a statement that “although international trade is an important part of what we do at USDA, and Brazil has long been one of our partners, my first priority is to protect American consumers.”

The U.S. suspension will remain in place until Brazil’s agriculture ministry “takes corrective action which the USDA finds satisfactory,” according to the agency.

A slew of global buyers, including China, Egypt and Chile, curtailed imports of Brazilian meat after Brazilian federal police unveiled an investigation into alleged corruption in the sector on March 17.

Brazilian authorities said at the time that meat companies made payments to government health officials to forego inspections and cover up health violations.

The U.S. began allowing shipments of fresh beef from Brazil last year after banning them due to concerns about foot and mouth disease in cattle.

— Tom Polansek reports on agriculture and agribusiness for Reuters from Chicago. Additional reporting by Michael Hirtzer in Chicago and Tatiana Bautzer in Sao Paulo.

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