Transcript Slide 1

Meat Inspection Regulations
(MIR) - BC
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Meat Inspection Regulations
(MIR) - BC
Stipulates
only meat from livestock slaughtered in
provincially or federally licensed facilities
can be sold for human consumption
&
all animals slaughtered in licensed
abattoirs must be inspected both before &
after slaughter
Effective from September 30 2007
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Annual Animal Transportation
Death Toll
Up to 3m animals found dead when
unloaded at Canadian abattoirs :-
2m broiler chickens; 400,000 egg-layers; 20,000
turkeys; 17,000 pigs & 500 cattle
11m animals declared unfit for human
consumption after arriving diseased or
injured:-
8m broiler chickens; 3m egg-layers; 200,000
turkeys; 80,000 pigs & 8000 cattle
Ref- BC SPCA/Canadian Food Inspection Agency © December 10 2008 The Vancouver
Sun
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What Are The Risks Of Farm
Gate Meat Sales?
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Officials have NOT demonstrated locally produced
meats pose a public health risk
&
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have confirmed that no data available on the
instances of food borne illness attributable to local
farm gate meat sales
Ref North Report
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IMPACT OF THE MIR ON
SLAUGHTER CAPACITY –
Ref - North Okanogan
Regional District (RDNO) Brigitt Johnson
On Average 97 Producers
Responded - 22 Years of
Experience
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BEFORE MIR
8
custom slaughter businesses
servicing RDNO
 6 fixed plants also provided cut
& wrap services
 2 on farm slaughter including 1
mobile
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AFTER MIR
4 of the custom abattoirs closed
 lost custom processing conservatively estimated at 1850+
beef; 2775+ pigs; 3000+ lambs &
3000+ rabbits
 the economic value of the lost
production conservatively estimated
at $4,635,250.00

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& Then There Was
1
provincially
licensed plant
that processed
custom beef &
lamb
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Does It Get Worse?
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A producer spent 18 years establishing 2000
head of African sheep
Participated in disease & pest resistance
research with several Canadian universities
Had established a niche market - selling high
quality Halal slaughtered lamb & beef
No processing currently exists for this market served by on farm slaughter
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Economic Impact On Small
Producers
Loss of farm status
Reduced revenues & profit margins
Higher slaughter costs &
Reduced production

97 producers served over 2,669 customers

42% expected to lose farm status &
another 20% were unsure
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More To Slaughter Less
Capacity
90% of respondents said
they experienced a lack
of slaughter capacity
after MIR compared to
26% before MIR
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Of 97 Producers Asked
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2 had to destroy animals - unable to
slaughter them for sale - in 1 case this
represented over 500 animals
17 had animals they were unable to
slaughter – beef, pigs, bison & lamb
58% said they had reduced the number of
animals they raise &
another 19% were uncertain
77% attributed the reduction directly to
MIR
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What Cost Government/Codex
Control
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Reduced production
26 producers reporting lost combined livestock
sales revenue of over $236,000
“We will lose our farm status unless we find an
alternative to poultry production”
“We will have to develop a new customer base &
incur start up costs associated with any new
business. The farm equipment we have for
poultry production will be worthless”
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PRODUCERS
PROVIDE A TOUCH OF
REALITY
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Chicken
Producer
“We are unable to get farm status on
the property we purchased because
of the regulations”
“Our taxes will increase substantially
along with water costs etc. We
produced chickens & pork & had a
ready market for any we could
produce”
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Poultry Producers
The average loss
$9,000.00
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Mixed Producer
“We will lose farm status”
“We don’t have an alternative”
“We are in the ALR but don’t
have much flat or productive
land & are not irrigated so are
limited as to what we can grow”
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GIVEN the CHOICE
If you have stopped producing (meat
animals) would you consider going
back into production if your
preferred processing was available
at a cost comparable to preregulation prices?
Yes 96%
No 4%
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Producer Comments To
Ponder
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FORMER PRODUCER
“What is going on in BC with the regulatory
changes is effectively eliminating the
small scale grower from the system. What
the regulatory changes are doing when I
think of them to some depth from a
processing business development point
of view is making the risks as well as the
preliminary & ongoing costs too great”
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FORMER SHEEP PRODUCER
“I had 110 ewes in Langley & maintained 58 ewes in
Kelowna since 1999. I sold all my lambs locally &
could have sold more if I had had them.
In the fall of 2005 I sold off all my sheep as there
was no way I could operate under the draconian
& ridiculous new meat regulations introduced by
our Provincial government. There are no
qualifying slaughter houses in our area & it is not
economical to transport the lambs to the Fraser
Valley”
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PRODUCERS KNOW
Consumers/voters
want
 Humanely
treated animals
 Low stress
 Low numbers
 No antibiotics
 Free range
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ABBATOIRS RISKS
Large numbers of animals
processed
 Mixing animals from different farms
 Increasing the number of people
handling the meat
 More people consuming the meat greater number affected if a problem
 Recalls involve tons not pounds

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PRODUCERS pointed out
The implementation of MIR contradicts
other Provincial government policies
 climate change initiatives
 efforts to reduce fuel consumption &
vehicle emissions
 promotion of green & sustainable
communities
 buy local campaigns
 food security
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The Provincial Medical Health
Officer - 2005 Annual Report
“Buying locally produced food also
makes it easier for consumers to
trace exactly where their food
comes from & how it is produced
improving confidence in the
safety of the food system”
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FORMER LIVESTOCK
INVESTIGATOR
“The
government would like you
to think this is a big problem.
To my knowledge we never had
a problem with farm gate
slaughter or animals taken to
local abattoirs”
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The Requirements Continue
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If farmers cannot maintain fresh eggs at 4oC
they cannot leave their eggs out for sale
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New BC regulations – Vendors at Farmers
Markets must submit applications, recipes
and completed lab tests before they can
sell their food at the market
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CODEX ALIMENTARIUS
IG Farben headquarters
during
World War II
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CODEX ALIMENTARIUS – A DIP INTO
HISTORY
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WWII IG Farben supplied steel for railroads
that took prisoners to concentration camps
IG Farben was the single largest donor to
Hitler’s election campaign
Company manufactured the gas used to
exterminate prisoners &
Conducted experiments on prisoners
After the war 24 of company’s top
executives found guilty of war crimes
Company broken up into smaller
companies Bayer among them
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ONE EXECUTIVE Fritz ter Meer
After being released Fritz ter Meer
reviewed what had happened &
concluded that although the
Holocaust had failed there was
another way to control the population
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Fritz - “He who controls the food
controls the world”
Fritz went to his contacts at the UN &
presented his idea & received their support &
Codex was re-born
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MODERN CODEX - FOR A COUNTRY
TO STAND UP TO CODEX IS RISKY
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Started in 1962 by the UN & backed
by the World Health Organization
Imposed by World Trade Organization
Sanctions
If a member country is not Codex
compliant & there is a trade
disagreement the Codex compliant
country has always won
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WHAT’S CODEX FOR?
To control the international trade of
food guided by corporate interests
which include: pharmaceutical
pesticide, biotechnology & chemical
industries
 To establish food safety guidelines to
protect consumers?????
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MOST OF THE FOOD CONSUMED IN
CANADA IS COVERED BY CODEX
 This
commission aims to take
choice away & put power into the
hands of corporations
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Codex is in 176 countries including
US - Canada – UK & China
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NUTRITION – We are what we eat
There are 2 Codex committees which
address the nutritional aspects of
food 1 is headed by Dr Rolf
Grossklaus
Quote “NUTRITION IS NOT RELEVANT TO
HEALTH”
Codex committee on Nutrition & foods for special dietary uses Bonn
Germany November 3-7 2003
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NUTRITION
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Grossklaus is the same doctor who
declared nutrients to be toxins in
1994
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Grossklaus owns the Risk
Assessment company that assesses
the toxicity of nutrients
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SO WHAT’S IT BASED ON?
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Napoleonic law which states that
anything not explicitly permitted is
forbidden
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If Codex is implemented even
vitamins could be considered illegal
because most have a level of toxicity
– but so do drugs!!!
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WHO BENEFITS?
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Pharmaceutical companies: if you
can`t access healthy foods - vitamins
or supplements - illness will force
consumers to allopathic medicine
The top ten profitable companies Fortune 500: - pharmaceutical
companies - virtually recession proof
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BILL C-51 ANOTHER CODEX
RELATED MANEUVER?
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WATCH THIS SPACE
Bill C-51 was defeated last year but has
been re-written into another bill
currently being reviewed for
Parliament - called C-6
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WHO REALLY BENEFITS?
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Chemical companies
Monsanto forced Iraqi government to
pass a law FORBIDDING seed saving
Now all seeds have to have the
Terminator gene
Don't forget the Saskatchewan farmer
who almost lost his farm because
Monsanto seeds blew onto his farm &
they found out about it
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CODEX DEFINES - FACTORY
FARMING
Outlined in a footnote in the organics
section of Codex:
“Factory farming refers to
industrial management systems
that are heavily reliant on
veterinary & feed input not
permitted in organic agriculture”
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BIG BROTHER
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In US a system has been debated by
Congress & Senate that would require
all farm animals to be micro chipped
for identification
Bureaucratic nightmare especially for
small farmers - directly linked to
Codex so don`t think it won`t happen
here!
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BIG BROTHER
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All livestock will be identified
individually
Small mammals or poultry by herd or
flock - bees by hive
This law is being fought vigorously in
the US as it impacts on everything
from 4-H showings to breeding of
animals
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WHAT TO DO? Help Be The
Change You Want To See
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Eat Local Food
Know the organic farmers & support
them
Be a voice – to your MLA & MP &
neighbours &
Be aware & educated about what is
going on in your own country
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WHAT ELSE
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Take the opportunity for input
Codex alternative guidelines are
being written & can be accessed
at: www.healthfreedomUSA.org
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There is also a petition on this
website
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WEBSITES FOR MORE INFO
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www.healthfreedomusa.org
www.codexalimentarius.net
www.who.int - food safety
www.4dr-rath-foundation.org more info on
Farben`s activities during WWII
You tube has the video on Codex broken
into smaller increments for easier digestion
Google: Ian Crane - Rima Eharbow MD Fritz ter Meer - Codex Alimentarius
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