Beira Mar, a British Columbia company that imports a wide
range of foods, has lost its licence to import cheeses.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency suspended the company’s
cheese-importing licence in October and this month cancelled it.
No reasons, other than failure to comply with regulations,
have been posted on the CFIA website.
Cheese import licences are a hot topic now that Canada has
agreed to allow more cheeses from Europe into the Canadian market.
Dairy farmers, through their marketing boards, are asking
the federal government to allow them to be the importers of the additional
cheeses.
Whoever holds the licences will be able to pocket hefty
profits because the global prices for European cheeses are about a third of the
price levels that prevail in the Canadian market.