Is roadkill coming to Canadian dinner tables?

[mentalfloss]

Is roadkill coming to Canadian dinner tables?

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/324989 Ottawa - The Conservative government intends to change regulations to allow animals to be killed on the farm before being processed for human consumption. The opposition New Democratic Party says this will lead to roadkill being sold to Canadians.

As stated on its website, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is responsible for safeguarding food, animals, and plants to enhance the health and well-being of Canadians, the economy, and the environment. Under current regulations animals must be alive when they are shipped from a farm to a federal facility in order for the animal to eventually be processed for human consumption. The government is proposing a change to the regulations to allow the shipment of dead animals. The government says this will only be done in limited circumstances and food safety will not be compromised. The Official Opposition says the change will result in loopholes that will have Canadians eating roadkill. Yesterday the NDP released a statement entitled, Conservative changes will allow roadkill on your table. Accusing the government of gambling with the health and safety of Canadians, Malcolm Allen, the party's critic for Agriculture and Agri-food, said,

First the Conservatives will let private inspectors monitor meat, and now they're essentially allowing road kill-ready meat into the food supply. Even scarier is the fact that we won't know how long animals have been dead before processing—or even that the meat will be inspected at all.​

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz called the NDP statement "ludicrous and misleading." The minister was quoted in the Toronto Sun as saying,

The NDP know full well, despite their outrageous rhetoric, that the proposal will not reduce food safety in any way. Only the NDP would stoop so low as to mislead Canadian families with hopes of getting media attention.​

As reported by CBC, CFIA also takes issue with the NDP's release. Tim O'Connor, an agency spokesman, said dead animals will only be transported under very limited circumstances. An animal that is injured or too violent to transport will be allowed to be euthanized and transported only after approval by CFIA. And if CFIA does approve, the euthanasia must be carried out by a veterinarian who must certify not only the date and method of killing, but certify the animal is safe for human consumption. This seems to exclude dead animals found on farms as well as roadkill. John Masswohl of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association calls it a win-win situation. Currently if a steer is injured there are two choices; transport it while injured or put it down and dispose of it. He also told CBC that diseased and dead animals are not considered under the proposed regulations and doesn't know where the NDP got the idea that those animals were being considered.

Is roadkill coming to Canadian dinner tables?

 

[B00Mer]

 

[petros]

Is roadkill coming to Canadian dinner tables?

Food bank users seem to be just fine with it.

 

[MHz]

Maybe it will be an anti-biotic for GMO food.

 

[Cliffy]

Recipes

 

[MHz]

Rule #1, prepare your vehicle to do some ditch travel if the critter gets off the asphalt before you clip him. Remember that if you hit a moose while on the road it is the moose's fault. If you get him while you are in the ditch you are at fault.

 

[mentalfloss]

UN envoy blasts Canada's food insecurity problem

A United Nations envoy on the right to food says the rate of food insecurity in Canada is "unacceptable" and called on the federal government to adopt a national right-to-food strategy.

"What I've seen in Canada is a system that presents barriers for the poor to access nutritious diets and that tolerates increased inequalities between rich and poor, and aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples," Olivier De Schutter told reporters in Ottawa Wednesday.

"Canada has long been seen as a land of plenty. Yet today one in 10 families with a child under 6 is unable to meet their daily food needs. These rates of food insecurity are unacceptable, and it is time for Canada to adopt a national right-to-food strategy."

De Schutter, the UN's rapporteur on the right to food, said his 11-day visit revealed that many Canadians in inner-city neighbourhoods and remote aboriginal communities are living in poverty and don't enjoy the food security that Canada advocates elsewhere in the world.

He noted that 800,000 households are "food insecure" in Canada because social assistance benefits and minimum wages have not kept up with the rising costs of basic necessities, such as food and housing.

"Food banks that depend on charity are not a solution: they are a symptom of failing social safety nets that the government must address," he said.

He also noted that more than one in four Canadian adults is obese.

"This is also a result of poverty: adequate diets have become too expensive for poor Canadians, and it is precisely these people who have to pay the most when they live in food deserts and depend on convenience stores that charge higher prices than the main retailers," he said.

This was De Schutter's first visit to a developed nation. He will now take these preliminary findings of his mission and prepare a formal report that he will ultimately present to the UN Human Rights Council.

UN envoy blasts Canada's food insecurity problem | CTV Winnipeg

 

[Locutus]

Good take on this dramatic idiocy:


The socialist NDP rats hit bottom, keep digging.



This is the party that purports to be one of “caring” … and of intelligence and good ideas?

What a bunch of attention-seeking alarmists and fear-mongers. And political dumb-dumbs.

Here’s a news release just posted on their web site:




Proposed changes to Meat Inspection Regulations (MIR) will leave Canadians wondering if the meat they buy is actually safe, because of the Conservatives’ reckless cutting spree. Private inspectors, who may not be qualified, will now be able to inspect meat. Worse, these changes to meat inspection rules also change what meat is acceptable – meaning already-dead meat and crippled animals’ meat will be okay for processing for Canadians’ tables.
“First the Conservatives will let private inspectors monitor meat, and now they’re essentially allowing road kill-ready meat into the food supply,” said Malcolm Allen, NDP Critic for Agriculture and Agri-Food. “Even scarier is the fact that we won’t know how long animals have been dead before processing – or even that the meat will be inspected at all.”




I wonder if they feel “private” car manufacturing workers, home builders, food service workers, pharmaceutical and medical workers, and all other workers are also inherently inept (or shall I say “may not be qualified”?) on account of them not being state employees at a state-owned facility and members of one of Canada’s far-left political public service labor unions. Because apparently only state workers are acceptable to the NDP.


Anyway, Sun Media’s report about it used the word “overkill” in their report, earning it a mention here:


People who put out this sort of lie – this tactic which is nefariously designed by jerks in the backroom (and then approved by its leader) to do nothing but scare the crap out of people in order to gain power – should be summarily ignored and treated by Canadians as, well, roadkill. These people show nothing but an utter contempt for the very people they purport to “care” about. They treat them Canadians as stupid. Naive. Gullible. Idiot. They treat us as roadkill on their precious highway to power.


Strident? Maybe, but I think these power-hungry jerks politicians who will do or say anything – including lying and fear-mongering and anything else at any cost to simply win political power… have by default relinquished their moral authority to ever win seats in elections. And to be taken seriously by anyone, including their enablers in the Canadian news media, who are ultimately responsible for anyone in this country even knowing who the hell the NDP are in the first place.


And I have even less respect for all these people than I did before. As you should.




And what’s with the folksy name-change for the NDP leader, socialist Frenchman Thomas Mulcair? It’s “Tom” now, is it? If the above is what you think of Canada’s citizens – that is, gullible, naive, idiots – I think your last name should be Tom Don’tcare. “Fighting for you” my butt roast.




The source of this bitchslap: Proud To Be Canadian

 

[skookumchuck]

Yep, the UN's sterling track record of appointing human rights advocates from countries with near zero human rights and their also wonderful record of rapaciously consuming billions of dollars for their own agenda while whining about poor people makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Nothing like a continuous parade of Limos, "dignitaires" and well fed hangers on showing up at the UN every day to tell us how we should be so ashamed of having built one of the greatest countries and democracies in the history of world while most of THEIR people struggle to eat or stay alive, yep.
Is the Greek delegate using a smart car and bringing his/her own sandwiches? How about the Somali rep? Zaire?
Now numerous Mensa/UN types reckon OUR food supply is bad.........We bad:roll:

I guess we should start eating very lean meat and save the extra feed for their needy, Ant and Grasshopper?
sarc off.

 

[mentalfloss]

Meat Inspection Change Risks Diseased Animals Entering Food Chain

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, May 16, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Regulatory changes to the meat inspection process, which are slated for approval, raise concerns about the safety of products consumed by Canadians and exported to other markets. The changes are being put forward at the same time as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) faces a budget cut of $56 million and the loss of veterinarians and food inspectors.

"With these changes there is a greater risk that diseased animals will enter the food chain without timely examination by independent government professionals who are specifically trained for this job," says Gary Corbett, President of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), the union that represents 600 federal government veterinarians working at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). "Why would the federal government risk downgrading the safety of the food on Canadians' tables in this way?"

Changes to the Meat Inspection Regulations introduced last month will allow private veterinary practitioners to certify animals to be slaughtered, then bled on the farm and shipped (without refrigeration) to slaughter plants up to two hours away for processing into meat for sale to Canadians and consumers around the world.

Private veterinarians do not have the months of specialized training in slaughter operations and food safety that their federal government counterparts receive. In addition, these private veterinarians could be perceived to be in a conflict of interest situation, since they will be paid by the same farmer who may want to salvage an animal that has been found unfit for transport.

While the animals impacted by this regulatory change represent a small percentage of Canadian livestock, it could place the industry at enormous risk. Some diseases veterinarians monitor livestock for are readily identifiable before the animal is killed, but show no signs after they are killed.

CFIA veterinarians who are on the frontline enforcing the Meat Inspection and Health of Animals Regulations were not consulted about this regulatory change.

"There is certainly no public interest rationale for this change. Our current regulations protect Canadians' health and our important export markets from diseases such as rabies, scrapie and mad cow or poisoning by lead and other toxins," adds Corbett. "Canadians expect their government to ensure that their meat comes from healthy animals."

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada represents some 60,000 professionals and scientists across Canada's public sector.

Meat Inspection Change Risks Diseased Animals Entering Food Chain - MarketWatch

 

[CDNBear]

The opposition New Democratic Party says this will lead to roadkill being sold to Canadians.

The idiocy of that elitest comment aside. What's wrong with road kill?

"What I've seen in Canada is a system that presents barriers for the poor to access nutritious diets and that tolerates increased inequalities between rich and poor, and aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples," Olivier De Schutter told reporters in Ottawa Wednesday.

Really?

And carbon taxes and increased food costs will make that all better?

You can't have it both ways Fuzzy. Either you support carbon taxes and Mully's sustainable resource management, that WILL increase food costs.

Or you don't. You can't have it both ways.

Meat Inspection Change Risks Diseased Animals Entering Food Chain

BS. Chickens are already slaughtered on the farm at King Capon.

 

[petros]

Meat Inspection Change Risks Diseased Animals Entering Food
Chain

I can't be the only one who has heard of irridation?

 

[CDNBear]

I can't be the only one who has heard of irridation?

Nope.

I can't be the only one that has bought processed chickens, lamb, beef, beefalo and turkeys at farms either.

Within 20minutes of my door, you have King Capon and King Cole Ducks, and Bill's Turkey farm. All operations that slaughter on the farm.

All opersations that fall under agriculture regs, because the farm and the processing are on the same property.

All with better track records than Maple Leaf.

 

[petros]

Nope.

I can't be the only one that has bought processed chickens, lamb, beef, beefalo and turkeys at farms either.

Within 20minutes of my door, you have King Capon and King Cole Ducks, and Bill's Turkey farm. All operations that slaughter on the farm.

All opersations that fall under agriculture regs, because the farm and the processing are on the same property.

All with better track records than Maple Leaf.

Nope you aren't but I have to drive 30 minutes to the nearest Huttie colony for birds.

 

[CDNBear]

Nope you aren't but I have to drive 30 minutes to the nearest Huttie colony for birds.

Holy crap, I forgot about the Mennonites! Some of the best summer sausage around. Farm raised, slaughtered, butchered, processed, seasoned and stuffed.

Mulcair should get his head out of his ass. Anyone that supports that nutter, is an asshat.

 

[SLM]

All with better track records than Maple Leaf.

Everyone has a better track record than Maple Leaf!

 

[petros]

That guy ain't "right"....he's "left" reality.

 

[CDNBear]

Do these threads die so fast because the ideologues that start them, realize their der leader stuffed his foot in his mouth so good, that no amount of shilling will help get it out?

 

[Locutus]

Ok, I'll help.

My last roadkill was a partridge. Delicious it was.

 

[MHz]

If you asked the farmer to sample it you would know he trusts it. Perhaps the FDA should be required to take some of the products they endorse, same for Monsanto, one product with every meal for leadership and stockholders.

If he placed it on the other side of his fence just as you happened to be passing by, well there is your road-kill.

If he ravens aren't interested you shouldn't be either.