May 1, 2009
Maple Leaf confident swine flu won't hurt business
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. chief executive Michael McCain said despite consumer misconceptions about the swine flu, it won't affect the food processor's meat business, amid several countries' ban of Canadian pork imports.
McCain said that Maple Leaf might even see an increased demand for the company's pork, especially if Mexican pork exports are banned in some countries.
However, he admitted that it's still too early to determine whether Maple Leaf will see any impact from the swine flu, and that pork exports are only a minimal part of the business.
Historically McCain says Maple Leaf has shipped 20 to 30 percent of its pork, but that it's "less than that'' these days, though he declined to give specifics. The company still operates a pork processing plant in Burlington, but has restructured in recent years to focus on higher value-added consumer products.
The Canadian pork industry has been rocked this week over fears that misinformation about the swine flu could cause a drastic decline in demand for raw pork or meat products such as bacon and ham.
Though there is no scientific evidence that swine flu is transmitted through eating pork products, countries are already shunning pigs. Pigs in Egypt are being killed en masse while some countries are banning the import of pigs and raw uncooked pork.
The swift international response has sent US hog futures prices into a downward spiral.
Jacques Pomerleau, executive director of Canada Pork International, said that the domestic pork industry is in limbo as it awaits signs of how many countries might restrict imports. Half of Canada's pork production is exported.
He said the "Canadian government hasn't been officially notified…the whole thing is completely uncertain.''
Maple Leaf, which was the centre of its own meat scandal last year over an outbreak of listeriosis linked to products produced at one of its plants, pulled itself to profitability in the first quarter, and boosted sales by more than six per cent.
However, the Toronto-based company, owner of the former Schneider Foods meat processing plant in Kitchener and a poultry processing plant in Ayr, was still struggling with some of the after-effects of last summer's listeria poisoning.
