Under the program, processors can escape high duties on
imports of dairy and poultry, provided they do some processing in Canada and
then export the same volume they imported.
In some cases they have up to several years to complete
exports.
The dairy and poultry supply-management sectors are complaining
that too often the exports don’t match import volumes, so there is “leakage” of
cheap imports into the Canadian market.
MacAulay said the team will also look into complaints that
spent fowl imports from the U.S. are often broiler chickens that undermine the
Canadian market.
The team will also look into DNA technology developed at
Trent University that could distinguish between broiler chicken and spent fowl.
The Chicken Farmers of Canada national agency has been
urging the Canada Border Services Agency for more than a year to use the DNA
technology.