New Canadian License Aids Rural Meat Producers
CANADA - A new move in the city of Prince George means that ultra-rural meat producers, and those in the region who qualify, have an easier way to sell their wares.
11 June 2008
2 minute read
* "These new changes will help remote communities and preserve the ability to buy locally." |
|
Agriculture Minister Pat Bell
|
According to the Prince George Citizen, the provincial government has created a special transition license for these farmers and ranchers so they can keep providing beef, poultry and their other products at the farm gate as long as they are actively working towards a full license for safe and healthy butchering.
According to a government plan unveiled Monday, meats produced can qualify for a Class C license indicating with a label that the meat is not inspected and cannot be resold or used in any commercial operation such as a restaurant, reports the Prince George Citizen. The Class C designation can be provided immediately to small, isolated meat producers who then have until Dec. 31, 2009, to submit their construction plan for full inspection.
"This is a concern particularly in remote areas, where producers want to keep making their farm gate living, but it is unlikely a certified abattoir will be built there," Agriculture Minister Pat Bell told the news agency. "Since the regulation (all meat to be inspected before sale to the consumer) was announced in 2004, we have more than quadrupled the number of licensed provincial meat processing operations, and these new changes will help remote communities and preserve the ability to buy locally."
TheCattleSite News Desk
