Health committee  It was mandated by our organization. We use the on-farm food safety program to make it mandatory for our producers. The implementation date was May 2014, but looking at the history books, we see that there wasn't ubiquitous use throughout the industry. There were segments that we

Health committee  There are two parts to that question. On the irradiation side of things, it's not allowed in Canada. Health Canada has not approved that process for meat products, so that is certainly a regulatory hurdle. Also, in terms of why antibiotics are used by the neighbour down the road

Health committee  I think there's a difference between over-prescription in how antibiotics are being used and looking at the risk factors that we now know of, which are being highlighted through the World Health Organization and the OIE. Understanding the potential crisis that is front us, what d

Health committee  That's great to hear.

Health committee  Not at all, there's a lot of confusion with labels so it's very top of mind. There is a federally inspected label for antimicrobial use. Any product that goes through a federally inspected plant can use the terminology “raised without the use of antibiotics”. That's what's being

Health committee  It's a good question. I've been harping on surveillance. Surveillance is one of the key areas we need to continue working on so that we have a better handle on exactly the amount of usage throughout the industry. Certainly, over the last number of years, the amount of “raised wi

Health committee  I'm just trying to refer back to the statement in my mind. Maybe what I was talking about at the time was the surveillance information that we have that indicates that there's a different level of antibiotics used in human medicine than in poultry production. Where we see a lot o

Health committee  That's the important point, and the last item of my presentation was on communication to the public. We need to be confident in the food supply we have right now. As we make changes, it doesn't mean the product that's currently on the market is bad. We're looking at future change

Health committee  When we look internationally at reduction efforts that have taken place, we see that a lot of alternative strategies have been put in place, whether they be management or other. Certainly vaccine alternatives and feed alternatives are part of that. It's a large tool. Really, wha

Health committee  I think one aspect that's come up here is a leadership role. I think there's a strong leadership role for the federal government to play in bringing together the provinces as well as the industries in order to move forward. It requires a combined effort from the human side and fr

Health committee  Exactly. The great news is that a lot of that research and a lot of that innovation has already been done; it's a case of getting them into the Canadian market to where they are already internationally.

Health committee  I think the good news here is that there is already a lot in place. We spoke about the Canadian integrated program for antimicrobial resistance surveillance, which is a surveillance program out of the Public Health Agency of Canada that has been in place for over a decade. It sta

Health committee  Definitely. I think the methods of data collection would be different between animals and humans. On the animal side, we have focused on collecting that information right on the farm level. That's where the most credible data occurs. There are a couple of different reasons for c

Health committee  Thank you very much. Chicken Farmers of Canada appreciates the opportunity to speak to the Standing Committee on Health regarding antimicrobial resistance. Canada’s 2,800 chicken farmers are engaged on the issues of antimicrobial resistance and use, and we take that responsibi

Agriculture committee  To build on that comment quite quickly here, I think one of the recommendations we put forward is to add in the words “visually observable” for unfit or compromised birds, for the very reason that's been stated. Obviously, there can be mortality that results in transport, but the