April 17, 2007

Canada's Ontario province earmarks funds for BSE feed ban

The Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario are investing $15 million to aggressively eliminate bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) on Ontario's cattle herds.

The federal-provincial funding will help the province's beef processing sector compliance with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's enhanced feed ban, which takes effect on 12 July this year.

The program is supported through a 60:40 federal-provincial cost-sharing agreement.

The federal contribution of $9 million to Ontario is part of an $80 million commitment to specified risk material(SRM) removal programs in entire Canada.

Federal funding supplements the provincial contribution of $6 million for a total of $15 million over two years to support the development of infrastructure or other measures required by the industry to comply with the enhanced feed ban.

Affected industries include livestock producers, deadstock collectors, renderers, abattoirs and meat processors.

In addition to funding for the SRM program, Ontario is providing $4 million to the Livestock Mortality Recycling Project to provide transitional support until SRM disposal infrastructure and updated regulations for deadstock disposal are in place.