September 8, 2006

Canadian pork industry mulls options for banning of Carbadox

The Canadian pork industry is evaluating proposed new options for ensuring pork products remain free of residues of Carbadox.

In 2001, the sale of products containing Carbadox was banned in Canada because of human health concerns. Health Canada recently proposed a regulatory amendment to include Carbadox in the list of prohibited substances to ensure no residues of the drug or its metabolites end up in pork and pork products.

Last week, federal government departments, including Health Canada, US government officials and Canadian pork industry stakeholders met to discuss options.

Canadian Pork Council executive director Martin Rice said two alternatives are under consideration. Both are aimed at satisfying Health Canada's mandate of having zero Carbadox residues in the Canadian food supply.

The first option would involve some regulatory change that would seek to limit the impact on exporters.

The second would involve no regulatory changes but would focus on a monitoring programme with further steps taken according to changes in the programme.

Rice said the council would prefer an option similar to practices in countries where Carbadox has been removed or has never been approved, such as the EU, Australia and Japan.

Further discussions were scheduled at the end of this month.

However, Rice welcomed Health Canada's willingness to consider options which would be less damaging to trade.