Feathers ruffled over U.S. mislabelling

Monday, November 3, 2014

It just doesn't add up. Alberta Farmer reports that, last year, Canada imported over 97 million kilograms of spent fowl from the United States – which is, interestingly, 110 per cent of America's annual production.

Erna Ference, chair of Alberta Chicken Producers, says, "We're importing a lot more (spent fowl) than the United States even produces. That leads us to believe there's some foul play coming into effect."

Ference estimates that those who mislabel chicken as spent fowl are avoiding $60 million in tariffs, since spent fowl comes into Canada duty-free under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Producers are being hurt too, losing an estimated 9,000 jobs and $600 million in GDP according to Chicken Farmers of Ontario.

Canadian chicken producer groups are hatching a plan to collaborate with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Canadian Border Services Agency to improve testing and institute mandatory certification. BF