Reading Time: 2 minutes The hog slaughter and processing plant billed as Ontario’s second-biggest pork producer expects to be back in business Monday after a week-long COVID-19-related shutdown. Conestoga Meats, based at Breslau, just east of Kitchener, notified hog farmers and shippers on Friday that it would suspend “most operations” during the week of April 27 to May 1, […] Read more
Major Ontario pork packer expects to re-open Monday
Conestoga Meats went offline April 27
Pulse weekly outlook: Manitoba pea plant construction continues
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Work continues on Roquette’s pea processing plant at Portage la Prairie, Man., where the French plant-protein firm says measures have been taken to meet health and safety regulations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. “Beginning in early March we proactively started collaborating with contractors on COVID-19 prevention measures, such as increased cleaning of communal spaces […] Read more
Cargill to temporarily idle High River beef plant
Packing plant hit by COVID-19 outbreak; another 67 cases linked to JBS plant
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Cargill Ltd. said Monday it had begun the process of temporarily idling its beef plant at High River, Alta. because of the COVID-19 outbreak as provincial health officials said hundreds of workers at the plant had become infected. In her daily media update, Alberta chief medical officer Deena Hinshaw said a total of […] Read more
CFIA funded to build up inspection corps against COVID-19
Short spells of disruptions still to be expected at food plants
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa — The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is spending $20 million to hire, train and equip additional staff members to limit disruptions resulting from COVID-19. 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 […] Read more
‘Elbow to elbow:’ North America’s meat plant workers fall ill, walk off jobs
Supply chains struggling to keep pace with surging demand
Reading Time: 4 minutes Chicago/Winnipeg | Reuters — At a Wayne Farms chicken processing plant in Alabama, workers recently had to pay the company 10 U.S. cents a day to buy masks to protect themselves from the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to a meat inspector. In Colorado, nearly a third of the workers at a JBS USA beef plant stayed […] Read more
Smithfield shutting South Dakota pork plant indefinitely
Major packer warns of meat shortages during pandemic
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, said on Sunday it will shut a U.S. plant indefinitely due to a rash of coronavirus cases among employees and warned the country was moving “perilously close to the edge” in supplies for grocers. Slaughterhouse shutdowns are disrupting the U.S. food supply chain, crimping […] Read more
Maple Leaf poultry plant shuts for ‘deep cleaning’
COVID-19 found in three workers at Brampton facility
Reading Time: 2 minutes One of two Maple Leaf Foods plants at Brampton, Ont. has gone into shutdown mode for “deep cleaning” in the wake of three cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus among its workers. Toronto-based Maple Leaf announced Wednesday that operations at the company’s Kennedy Road poultry slaughter and packing plant in Brampton are suspended “while we complete […] Read more
Alberta’s provincial meat inspectors to train for federal duty
Provincial inspectors to be seconded to CFIA-inspected packers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Provincial meat inspectors in Alberta could soon be seconded to federally inspected packing plants under a new work-sharing arrangement between the province and Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The federal and Alberta governments announced Wednesday they would partner to “increase food inspector capacity” in the province and thus “ensure the continuous operation of Alberta’s food supply […] Read more
Ontario offers cash for abattoir upgrades
Applications now being accepted through April
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario’s 123 provincially-licensed abattoirs can now start applying for a piece of $2 million in federal/provincial funding to step up food safety, biosecurity and animal welfare measures. The Ontario and federal governments on Wednesday announced applications for cost-share funding can be submitted between now and April 30, “as long as funding for the initiative is […] Read more
Saputo to shut two dairy plants in East
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian dairy processing giant Saputo, in a move it describes as “right-sizing” its manufacturing footprint, plans to close two of its plants in Eastern Canada within a year. Montreal-based Saputo said Thursday it will close the former Riverside Cheese and Butter plant at Trenton, Ont. this September and its Baxter dairy plant at Saint John, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
