Good morning. Thank you for inviting us to speak today, as you seek input into the next federal budget.
My name is Jim Laws. I'm the executive director of the Canadian Meat Council. With me today is Margo Ladouceur, our regulatory affairs manager.
Canada's federally registered meat processing industry is by far the most regulated of all the food processing sectors. The Meat Inspection Act and regulations are extensive, and unlike other food sectors, meat inspection is regular and mandatory.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency charged $21 million to processors in 2008-09 for meat inspection fees. Fees for inspection services, export certificates, label approvals, etc., constitute a competitive disadvantage to Canadian federally registered meat processors. These fees are in addition to the growing staffing cost to deliver programs like the HACCP-based inspection program, the compliance verification system, and a significant increase in mandatory pathogen testing requirements, such as the new listeria control policy. This is in sharp contrast to American processors and Canadian provincially inspected meat processors, who are not subject to the same additional costs.
Our first recommendation is that Canada should not charge meat product inspection fees to federally registered meat establishments. The estimated cost for that is $21 million per year.