Thai chicken in Canada?

Saturday, August 8, 2015

In May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recalled more than 4,500 pounds of chicken noodle soup made by Victory Kitchens, a food processor in Toronto's west end.

At issue in the Class II low health risk recall was something that would have those aware of Canada's supply-managed chicken production system scratching their heads in disbelief. The soup might have been made in Canada, but the chicken definitely wasn't.

It came from Thailand.

Marty Brett, senior communications officer with Chicken Farmers of Canada, says Thailand is one of five countries from which Canada allows its food businesses to import chicken. The United States, Brazil, Chile and Israel are the others.

In total, the equivalent to 7.5 per cent of Canada's previous year's chicken consumption can come from these countries without triggering a hefty tariff. After that, supplementary import permits are used to bring in chicken under several different categories, including "import to export."

In 2013, import permits for 6,788,000 kilograms eviscerated weight were issued to Thailand. That amount lags far behind the 55,371,000 kilograms issued that same year to the United States and 13,079,000 kilograms to Brazil.

Import regulation changes that took effect late last year in the United States brought the Thai chicken to light. The FSIS does not accept chicken products from Thailand because they're "not produced under equivalent inspection," says the service's news release.

Then again, the chicken soup didn't stay all that long in the United States. By the time of the recall, it had been exported to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. BF