Agricultural relations with China have improved and some of the gains were solidified when Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald recently visited China.
MacDonald was on hand to open a Canadian Meat Advocacy Office. The government subsidizes the office run by the Canadian Meat
Council.
He signed an extension of an agreement under which the countries recognize each other’s meat inspection. But the Chinese check to ensure Canadian compliance with its own rules and have been known to pull up to packing plants with a stretch limousine for the team leader and a following van full of officials. And Canadian packing plant owners have been known to conduct vigorous cleansing and even total plant repainting to prepare for the inspections.
