The biggest challenge that food processors have is being able to get their products approved through Canada's regulatory system. If we have food manufacturers that are employing Canadians and creating new and innovative products in Canada, that's the first step. The second step is having to put these products on the market.
We have found numerous examples where our member companies have tried to get one of their products approved through the regulations and it has taken up to ten years sometimes. We've done a study on this--I'll be happy to send it over to you--and food approvals in Canada take, on average, five years longer than in the United States.
When I talk about food approvals I'm not talking about products that have been declared unsafe in other countries. As I said, food safety is always the number one priority of our member companies. These are food products that have been approved for five or ten years in other developed industrialized countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, the EU, etc.