Agriculture committee  On record-keeping, yes, I can talk about that. Basically anybody who controls SRM, whether they transport or produce it, has to keep records of the amount of SRM for a period of 10 years, the reason being that the period for mad cow disease to come about is roughly seven to ten years from the date of infectivity.

Agriculture committee  I'm talking strictly about the SRM, and not about the creation of the feed for the animal. There's no SRM produced in the feed; the feed is another story altogether. We're just talking about the maintenance and the control of the specified risk material that a farmer would produce on his farm.

Agriculture committee  I guess I'd better clarify a little bit too, because you're talking about two separate things. The SRM is one thing, the creation of the feed another. When you're talking about keeping track of the ingredients in whatever, that's going into the feed program. Those are the requirements of the feed program under the Feeds Act, which is totally different from the SRM.

Agriculture committee  I'll turn this one over to Paul, because it is a feed issue, not an SRM one.

Agriculture committee  Good day. We're talking basically about the small abattoirs and the small producers in rural parts of Canada. There are a number of things we've tried to do. One of the things they are allowed to do is that if they have enough land on site, they are allowed to bury right on site.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I guess when you talk about the dates, we have July 12, which is what we call the regulatory date. That is when CFIA has the responsibility to ensure that there is compliance to the enhanced feed-ban regulations. This is where the May 1 date comes in.