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Agriculture committee The agency will be looking at the scientific aspect of these submissions to determine whether they are acceptable or not. This is our mandate.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee That's an excellent question, Mr. Chairman. It lets me talk about the role of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency with regard to import control. The standards in effect for products offered to Canadian consumers, whether they come from Canada or from foreign countries, are the same.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee Certainly, it's the report on residues that the Agency has prepared. I'll be pleased to send it to you.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee With pleasure, Mr. Chairman. I'll ask Krista Mountjoy.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The issue of biotechnology is currently an issue in which the agency has a great investment. We look at these files of biotechnology with a scientific eye. The agency has the responsibility to evaluate new products that come to the market from the standpoint of their innocuousness to the environment and with regards to any impact on the feeding of animals.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee Mr. Chairman, there are other priorities the current government is trying to address, and the agency will certainly be responsive to the demands the government will be putting on the agency. As far as we're concerned as an agency, as I mentioned, we realize that the fact that we don't have the bill creates some gaps and maybe some opportunities, and we certainly will be continuing to work to address these issues.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll ask Madame Krista Mountjoy to answer.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee Mr. Chairman, the agency has a lot of expertise in a great variety of areas. We have veterinarians, chemists, biologists, and lawyers. Unfortunately we don't have too many philosophers, because some of these questions are philosophical questions. With regards to that type of question, the agency's mandate is a little restricted in terms of what the government has asked us to do.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee Thank you for the question. Mr. Chairman, I briefly answered the question of the meat code earlier. There's a whole segment of history that I did not mention. In fact you will agree that I'm not the youngest guy on this panel, so I've been around for some time. I can tell you that before the agency was created at the Department of Agriculture we started to work on a national meat code in the late 1970s.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee Thank you for the question. Mr. Chairman, the federal standards for meat inspection apply to premises that are engaged in interprovincial and international trade. These standards are a combination of Canadian standards and input that countries that accept Canadian meat have given to us over the years.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee I know that the Agency takes its labelling mandate very seriously. It's spending a lot of time and energy on this matter. It also has a mandate to protect against fraud, and its actions are clearly guided by policies on this matter. On the subject of cheese, Ms. Mountjoy could provide us with more details, with your permission, Mr.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee Mr. Chairman, some committee members will recall that the Agency spent a lot of time and energy on Bill C-27. Unfortunately, as a result of deadlines related not to the Agency's priorities, but to those of Parliament, the bill could not be passed. As a result of that, many cases could not be resolved and are still pending.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee Yes, it is.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee Mr. Chairman, if I may, I'll answer the two questions about approval of products and bluetongue/anaplasmosis and then I'll ask Dr. Brian Evans to update your question on BSE. With regard to approval of animal health products, the agency itself is reviewing some of these products, mainly the vaccines and the diagnostic test kits.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel
Agriculture committee No, Mr. Chairman, we don't. We're ready for questions.
May 30th, 2006Committee meeting
André Gravel