Thank you, Mr. Chair.
What I am about to say is for the Meat Council representatives. Each time you testify, you tell us not only about your opinions and your concerns, but you also provide us with suggested solutions and I appreciate that a great deal. it makes our work easier and allows us to find out about things that we did not know. You are the experts in your area, and you are allowing us to learn a lot about it. You bring up points that we can ask questions about. I have some like that for you now.
You mentioned the approval of antimicrobial interventions, and I would like you to give me some technical details about that. You say that you got approval for some antimicrobial agents in September 2008. Six years earlier, Schneider Foods had asked to be able to use sodium diacetate in combination with sodium or potassium lactate. Just a month after the crisis that caused 22 deaths, approval to use the product was suddenly granted.
First of all, I would like to know what these products are and why they are not accepted in Canada. I assume they are in the United States. Often a few details cause the public to be afraid. For example, are these products injected into the animal or are they added afterwards, during processing? Are they chemicals? Do they change the taste, the texture or the smell of the food?