January 18, 2013

 

 

Following the discovery of ractopamine in pork products, Russia has banned shipments from two Canadian processors and is closely monitoring four others.

 

Ontario pork processor, Quality Meat Packers Limited, is working with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to avert a Russian-imposed temporary suspension of its frozen pork shipments to that country.

 

Jim Gracie, Quality vice-president of sales and marketing, said the company was informed in December that its exports to Russia would be temporarily suspended as of January 23. The Russian federal veterinary and phytosanitary surveillance service, Rosselkhoznadzor, said it found traces of the feed additive ractopamine in the pork.

 

This is a violation of the veterinary and sanitary requirements of the Customs Union and Russia, Rosselkhoznadzor said in a January 9 press release on its website. The agency, based in Moscow, also announced temporary export suspensions or enhanced surveillance of other processors in Canada along with some in the US and Brazil.

 

Gracie said any pork meat going to Russia has to be free of ractopamine. But the feed additive is approved by Health Canada for use here. Ractopamine is used to promote leanness in animals raised for meat.

 

On the CFIA website it said Paylean 20 Premix by Elanco, containing ractopamine hydrochloride at 20 grams per kilogramme, is approved for use in swine (barrows and gilts) and heavy turkey (toms and hens) only.

 

Lisa Murphy Gauthier, CFIA spokesperson, said by email it's also allowed for use in Australia and Brazil - the world's largest producers of pork. In addition, last July the United Nations Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted an international standard for safe residue levels of ractopamine and Canada's requirements are consistent with this standard. The commission is the United Nations' food safety and quality standards body.

 

Martin Charron, vice president for market access and trade development at Canada Pork International, said ractopamine is approved for use in some 40 countries around the world, including the US, but some countries prohibit it, such as China, Taiwan, the EU - and Russia. Canada Pork International is the pork industry's market development agency.

 

Charron said the Russians are asking for some form of guarantee that the pigs used for pork products destined for their market have not been fed ractopamine. Canada Pork International is working with the Canadian Pork Council and the Canadian Meat Council to "develop a kind of programme which we would then submit to the CFIA." If the CFIA approves it, that organisation would submit it to Russia.

 

The other Canadian plant currently facing a temporary export suspension to Russia as of January 23 is Aliments Asta Inc. of Saint-Alexandre-de-Kamouraska, Quebec. The Russian agency said due to an initial detection of violations, four other Canadian plants are under enhanced laboratory control and could face temporary export suspensions if further violations are detected. The plants are: Maple Leaf Foods Inc. of Brandon, Manitoba; Fearmans Pork of Burlington, Ontario; Great Lakes Specialty Meats of Canada Inc. of Mitchell, Ontario; and Atrahan Transformation Inc. of Yamachiche, Quebec. Officials with Rosselkhoznadzor, Ontario Pork and the Canadian Pork Council could not be reached for comment.

 

Gracie said the amount of pork Quality exports to Russia is confidential. But they ship various cuts of frozen pork to that country. Charron said based on volume, Russia is Canada's second to third largest market for frozen pork after the US and Japan. For the first 10 months of 2012, Canadian plants shipped 180,000 tonnes of frozen pork to Russia.

 

Quality Meat Packers exports pork to other countries in addition to Russia and ractopamine has always been an "issue with sending pork into China," which is a major market for them, and a few other minor markets, Gracie said, noting the company already had protocols and measures in place to provide ractopamine-free pork to the Chinese market.

 

For Ontario, the Russian rejection of ractopamine-containing pork means the industry has to work hard to ensure there are policies and procedures in place to make sure pork going to Russia is free of the feed additive.