Provincially-inspected meat-packing plants are sharing $220,000 in federal and provincial agriculture department funding for 25 food-safety projects this year.
Last year there was $310,000 for 28 projects.
The funding is for up to 50 per cent of the cost of improving plans for food safety, and the program administrators say the total investment for the 53 projects is $1.7 million.
The province has steadily increased its food-safety requirements, bringing them closer to the national Canadian Food Inspection Agency standards, but that has also driven many small-scale abattoirs out of business.
