Okay. I'll be brief.
On my background, going back 45 years ago, I'm a cheese-maker. To tell you a little about the utilization of the MPI that Mr. Matte mentioned, when we use MPIs that we import—and there are possibly between 4,000 to 5,000 tonnes of MPI being imported—for us as processors it is an advantage. I will tell you the reasons why.
I would say that the bulk of the MPIs that are being used in the dairy business are used, as an example, in mozzarella. Possibly 70% to 75% is used to produce mozzarella that they use on pizzas, for example, for the food service. By using the MPI, which is more than 85% protein, that product comes in with a denatured protein and it also comes in without lactose. The denatured protein allows you to maintain a certain amount of moisture in your cheese. Because the protein has been denatured, it certainly allows for elasticity and makes a beautiful cheese that will spread on a pizza.
It's contrary to what it used to be five or ten years ago; you used to have a lot of bubbling on a pizza and some burning on a pizza. That doesn't happen today because the product we are using to supplement the milk is free of lactose. The lactose is a sugar, the ingredient that gives you the problem on top of a pizza, because it burns.
There are definitely some functional reasons for why we use the product. It is true that it is imported. As far as we know, it is unsubsidized, or the bulk of it is unsubsidized. It also allows us to maintain our prices and be competitive with the food service.
If we don't do that, if we don't give them the product they want, then we will be forced to produce cheese analogs. We will produce a product that will replace the dairy products on the pizza. That's coming. Canada has shied away from it so far, but for whatever reason, if we were not allowed to do that, I'm afraid we would lose a good segment of the food service on the mozzarella we have today.
Mr. Chairman, thank you.