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Bone chips cause grief for Alberta packers
Last updated May 26 2005 11:28 AM MDT
CBC News
CALGARY – Two Alberta meat processing plants were temporarily barred from exporting to Mexico earlier this year after some shipments of boneless beef were found to contain bone chips.
The Cargill plant near High River and the Lakeside plant in Brooks were both de-listed by Mexico after border inspectors discovered small bone chips in the packages.
Both plants have since resumed boxed beef shipments to the country.
Ben Thorlakson, with the Canada Beef Export Federation, says normally the bone chips aren't a problem, but that some inspectors have started taking a harder line after mad cow was discovered in four Canadian-born cows.
"Boneless beef does not include bone, even bone chips," he said. "Sometimes in the process, some bone chips may be found in the meat, and depending on how touchy they are about it, sometimes this can lead to a temporary delisting of a plant."
But he says that while right now Mexico is only allowing boneless products into the country, it is moving towards accepting bone-in shipments again in the near future, which would make the bone chip problem moot.
"There is a tentative agreement that Mexico will accept bone-in product sometime in the foreseeable future, probably some time in the next couple of months, so it's a case of being vigilant until those changes are adopted," Thorlakson said.
Boxed beef shipments to Mexico have increased by 17 per cent in the two years after bovine spongiform encephalopathy was first found in an Alberta cow, making it our second-largest export market after the U.S.
Both the U.S. and Mexico closed their borders to Canadian beef in May 2003 when mad cow was confirmed, although both have since started to accept some shipments. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working on a plan to reopen the border to live cattle, in July fighting a temporary injunction keeping the border shut.
Last updated May 26 2005 11:28 AM MDT
CBC News
CALGARY – Two Alberta meat processing plants were temporarily barred from exporting to Mexico earlier this year after some shipments of boneless beef were found to contain bone chips.
The Cargill plant near High River and the Lakeside plant in Brooks were both de-listed by Mexico after border inspectors discovered small bone chips in the packages.
Both plants have since resumed boxed beef shipments to the country.
Ben Thorlakson, with the Canada Beef Export Federation, says normally the bone chips aren't a problem, but that some inspectors have started taking a harder line after mad cow was discovered in four Canadian-born cows.
"Boneless beef does not include bone, even bone chips," he said. "Sometimes in the process, some bone chips may be found in the meat, and depending on how touchy they are about it, sometimes this can lead to a temporary delisting of a plant."
But he says that while right now Mexico is only allowing boneless products into the country, it is moving towards accepting bone-in shipments again in the near future, which would make the bone chip problem moot.
"There is a tentative agreement that Mexico will accept bone-in product sometime in the foreseeable future, probably some time in the next couple of months, so it's a case of being vigilant until those changes are adopted," Thorlakson said.
Boxed beef shipments to Mexico have increased by 17 per cent in the two years after bovine spongiform encephalopathy was first found in an Alberta cow, making it our second-largest export market after the U.S.
Both the U.S. and Mexico closed their borders to Canadian beef in May 2003 when mad cow was confirmed, although both have since started to accept some shipments. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working on a plan to reopen the border to live cattle, in July fighting a temporary injunction keeping the border shut.
