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 1420

Ottawa has allocated funding to complete the implementation of legislation designed to regulate the manufacture of medicated animal feeds in Canada.

Government and industry have been working for about ten years on a structure to regulate the use of medications in facilities that manufacture medicated feeds.

A proposed regulation was published in early 2001 but the process was put on hold pending allocation of the federal funding necessary to enforce the new legislation.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency Feed Evaluation Coordinator Judy Thompson says the regulation will outline practices that must be used in the manufacture of medicated feeds, whether on farm or in a commercial feed mill.

"What we're looking at is having appropriate equipment to manufacture feed, so a mixer that's capable of making a uniform product, using scales in the manufacture of feed that can weigh at the appropriate level of accuracy and precision, having clean out procedures that make sure medications in a medicated product don't end up in some place where they can cause problems with food safety or animal health, sampling to confirm the system is working and recall procedures in the event something goes awry.

The whole purpose of these regulations is to add an additional level of safety to livestock products so that, when you go to a supermarket and pick up a pork chop or a steak or a chicken breast, that you can be sure all the things that could be done to make sure there's no medication residues in there have been done.

It's really just an extra level of safety so we're hoping to increase consumer confidence in the safety of our products".

Thompson says, now that funding has been allocated for enforcement, the process of finalizing the legislation can resume.

She estimates it will be a minimum of another 18 months before the regulation will take effect.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.