International Trade committee  I would say that, yes, your reputation is everything to you in a market like Japan. So ensuring outside and above the protection that the CFIA gives us, we have to work very, very hard every single day to understand, and deliver, and make sure that we're meeting what the Japanese

International Trade committee  I would add that Canada has a tremendous reputation in Japan.

International Trade committee  I really can't speak for XL Foods, but I can tell you that in our case, at my company we have very strong values around transparency and doing what's right. We made sure that we confronted the issue head on, that we didn't try to hide it. I met with Japanese customers personally.

International Trade committee  It could, but in a way that you may not expect. It will actually help the pork business. The Japanese are confident in the Canadian system.

International Trade committee  I think it will have an impact on beef sales for a while, yes.

International Trade committee  I don`t know if Ray has an opinion on this. It's incredibly difficult to do. Every issue around food safety is very different. The risk is that you get out initially with the wrong information and you head in the wrong direction. Part of the issue that individual companies, the g

International Trade committee  I really can't add much to that, other than it's an issue where Japan has had BSE outbreaks of their own. They use it, I believe, to restrict trade. It's one of those things where you have to get in and negotiate very hard to remove.

International Trade committee  If I may add to that, it's highly manipulated. It kicks in when you have a three-month average above the previous three-year average for the same quarter. If you ship 119% or higher than you have been shipping, it will kick in, and it drives the gate price up in pork from roughly

International Trade committee  To talk about the standard, you have to separate specification from sanitary and phytosanitary, which is a floor. Canada ships at a very high standard worldwide, and that would go to all countries when it comes to items like food safety. Where the Japanese differ would be on the

International Trade committee  Yes. I would say they want to get in front of problems rather than react to problems, so they put a lot of front-end work into making sure that whoever they're buying from can meet the standard before a problem occurs.

International Trade committee  In the case of Korea, I picked up on the ball a little early. I have to admit that any time I ask for a meeting or we are given an opportunity, and there are many, to speak up, such as in a process like this, it is excellent. This allows me to get in front of the issue and make

International Trade committee  In the case of pork they would use some of the cuts that we wouldn't traditionally consume in Canada or North America, but they're more on the higher end, premium cuts. Other markets such as China, Taiwan, the Philippines, would help us balance out. What's important to the Cana

International Trade committee  I would add to that the fact that the Japanese regularly test my product for a range of coliforms. They go through, as I say, a variety of shelf-life testing. Since we have 20 years of experience with them, they have a lot of confidence in what we're providing and confidence in o

International Trade committee  I would also say that the differential duty system, which creates a minimum floor price for pork in Japan, which is in the range of $6.50 a kilogram, will pull up pricing. It actually pulls up our margins on the Canadian side, so that's one factor. The Japanese market is by a co

International Trade committee  Absolutely. To be successful in that market, you have to work back into your company in Canada and clearly understand the standards in Japan, how they differ, where they differ. You will not be successful in Japan unless you can address those and come into line with the Japanese