Farm-Scape is sponsored by Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork Play Audio Farm-Scape is a Wonderworks Canada production and is distributed courtesy of Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork.

Farm-Scape, Episode 1357

The Canadian Pork Council reports implementation of the Canadian Quality Assurance Program's drug use policy has resulted in very few producer concerns.

The approval of veterinary drugs in Canada is the responsibility of Health Canada's Veterinary Drug Directorate.

The Canadian Quality Assurance Program's new drug use policy came into effect at the beginning of this month.

National CQA Coordinator Dawn LeBlanc says the intent was to guarantee producers easy access to the information necessary to adhere to proper withdrawal times to avoid drug residues and to avoid drug interactions that might impact herd health.

"One of the biggest changes for the drug use policy is, if they're on the CQA program, producers may no longer import drugs for use under the 'own use' provision of the food and drugs act.

Previously producers could import drugs from other countries for use on their own farms for their own livestock but that's no longer allowed under the drug use policy.

That's probably the biggest change.

The other major change that we're seeing, essentially we're saying 'all drugs that are used on CQA farms must be approved for use in food producing animals.

If a producer was previously using products approved for horses or for companion animals, those may no longer be used.

You can continue to use products that have been approved for use in cattle or other food producing animals but it must be done under the direction of a veterinarian".

LeBlanc says industry has been aware of the new drug use policy for some time and many producers have been making changes to their drug use practices throughout the development of the Canadian Quality Assurance Program.

She says, although a few concerns have been voiced in relation to the implementation of the new policy, for the most part, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of difficulty.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.