Reading Time: 3 minutes A British-based firm processing proteins for the retail and foodservice sectors plans to set up shop somewhere in Eastern Canada, after reaching a deal to supply meat products to Walmart’s Canadian grocery business. Hilton Food Group announced Thursday it plans to open a new manufacturing plant in that region to supply Walmart Supercentres in Canada […] Read more

U.K. firm to process meats in Canada for Walmart
Plant would be Hilton Foods' first in North America

Préval closes deal for Alberta lamb processor, feedlot
Quebec firm picks up defunct NALCO's Alberta assets
Reading Time: 2 minutes Quebec agrifood firm Préval Ag has wrapped up its deal to buy the Alberta processing and production assets of the defunct North American Lamb Co., marking Préval’s first move into the lamb sector outside its home province. As per Alberta Farmer’s report last week, Préval confirmed Monday its divisions Westfine Meats and West Excelamb are […] Read more

U.S. to lift BSE-related rules off sheep, goat imports
New scrapie-specific rules take effect next month
Reading Time: 3 minutes U.S. restrictions that have hindered that country’s imports of live Canadian sheep and goats, going back to the start of the BSE crisis in 2003, are set to be scrapped and replaced with rules applying specifically to scrapie. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on Friday published a new […] Read more

Britain, New Zealand strike free trade deal
Reading Time: 2 minutes London/Wellington | Reuters — Britain and New Zealand have reached agreement in principle on a free trade deal designed to reduce tariffs, improve services trade, and take London one step closer to membership in a broader trans-Pacific trade agreement. Prime ministers Boris Johnson and Jacinda Ardern sealed the deal in a Zoom call on Wednesday […] Read more

China targets pork self-sufficiency rate of 95 per cent
Imported beef increasing in market share
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beijing | Reuters — China is aiming to produce 95 per cent of its pork at home, according to a cabinet document outlining plans for its livestock sector, underscoring a goal to quickly rebuild its huge pig herd after a major disease epidemic. The document, released on Sunday, comes amid a heightened focus on food […] Read more

Major veal processor launches new brand, non-GMO label
Reading Time: 2 minutes Quebec veal, lamb and beef processor Delimax-Montpak is set to launch a new consumer brand across Canada featuring what it bills as the only GMO-free milk-fed veal on the market. The company said Tuesday it expected to have the new brand — Fontaine Family, named for the company’s founding family — available via “most major […] Read more

Customer focus drives lamb processor partnerships with farmers
Reading Time: 3 minutes Wahab Zamani’s family knows what it wants in a lamb. And family members go to great lengths, partnering with sheep farmers, to get it. The Zamani family runs Simcoe Street Meat Packers and processes lamb in Kawartha Lakes for its retail stores in Toronto. They specialize in “truly halal products” he told the Ontario Sheep […] Read more

VIDEO: Data needed to help Ontario lamb reach potential
Reading Time: < 1 minute Glacier FarmMedia’s John Greig speaks with Martin Gooch, who conducted a study for Ontario Sheep Farmers that looked at how farmers can get more local lamb to consumers.

Lamb producer supply loop that works for everyone
If you’re skeptical about value chains, it’s time for a hard look at how these Ontario farmers helped build Trillium Lamb Inc.
Reading Time: 8 minutes Demand is flying high. Lamb isn’t a niche anymore. It’s everywhere on mainstream meat counters. But it isn’t on the farm, and in 2010, Newmarket Meat Packers (NMP) found only 10 per cent of Ontario lamb sales were being met with Ontario-grown lamb. Surely, that sounds like an opportunity. “Our demographics have changed,” says Newmarket’s Maggie […] Read more