Ground beef, hamburger and beef fat sold at Pistachios Quality Meats & Groceries, 1695 Wonderland Rd. N, London, are under recall because it might be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7 food-poisoning bacteria.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said no illnesses have been reported as linked to these products.
Jennifer Hayes has been appointed to a second four-year term as chair of the Canadian Dairy Commission, one of the most powerful positions in Canada’s dairy industry.
The commission sits on top of national milk supply management, dictates prices for milk processed into dairy products and keeps watch on dairy imports and exports.
She began with the Canadian Dairy Commission as a commissioner in 2017 and was elevated to chair in December, 2021..
Hayes is a third-generation beef and dairy farmer at PineCrest Farms in Shigawake, Quebec.
She co-owns the farm with her father and uncle.
She is a Master of Business graduate from Concordia University, is actively engaged in rural development initiatives within her region and gained governance experience through her work with L’Union des Producteurs Agricoles.
Sprinkling two grams of spray-dried plasma (SDP) on top of every ration a hog eats is an effective way to counter bacterial diseases, according to a recent scientific trial to determine the effctivenesss of the practice common in Brazil.
The 998-day trial was conducted on 1,526 pigs on a finishing ration.
It reduced bacterial diseases by 77 per cent.
Metric | Control | SDP (2g/d) | Improvement | |
Mortality per pen (number) | 1.08 | 0.25 | -77% | |
Mortality (%) | 3.39 | 0.78 | -77% | |
Tulathromycin injections/pen | 0.75 | 0.13 | -83% | |
Total medications/pen | 1.70 | 1.11 | -35% |
The United Kingdom has refused to budge on two non-tariff trade barriers it uses to keep Canadian beef out while its beef sales to Canada soar.
The Canadian Cattle Association is complaining to Ottawa, saying it should pressure the United Kingdom by keeping it out of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement on trade.
The Canadian Cattle Association told Ottawa said the United Kingdom should first allow Canadian beef into its market based on science that reports that using a peroxyacetic acid wash on carcasses to eliminate E. coli food-poisoning bacteria is safe and effective and that hormone additives that improve beef production efficiency and carcass quality are safe.
The National Cattle Feeders’ Association, the Canadian Pork Council and the Canadian Meat Council support the Cattle Association lobby.
“In July 2023, the Government of Canada announced the accession of the U.K. to the CPTPP (Comprehensive Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) agreement,” the CCA’s recent release reads. “CCA, our provincial members, and beef producers across the country urged Canada to ‘say no to a bad deal.’
“Since then, the U.K. has not made any effort to address the non-tariff barriers that are keeping Canadian beef out of the U.K. market. At the same time, U.K. beef imports into the Canadian market have increased from $16.6 million in 2023 to $42.5 million in 2024.”
“In addition, the U.K. refuses to recognize full systems approval for our meat hygiene system, which is recognized as world class,” the association said.
Irfan Memon has lost seven franchises for Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurants in the Toronto area and another seven have been shut down in a receivership.
Memon employees raised allegations of unpaid wages leading to receivership with debts of about $10.8-million.
Memon, is also a major defendant in a lawsuit filed in May against Popeyes, its parent company Restaurant Brands International Inc. and Toronto-area franchisees.
Companies controlled by Memon operated seven out of 27 locations listed in that lawsuit, in which a former poultry supplier to Popeyes, ADP Direct Poultry Ltd., accused the restaurants of buying “unsafe” meat from an unauthorized supplier.
The allegations have not been tested in court, and Restaurant Brands has said, most recently in July, that it found no evidence of those claims.
Despite that disclaimer, shortly after ADP’s lawsuit was filed, Restaurant Brands raised questions with Mr. Memon’s companies about where his restaurants were buying their meat.
In a notice of termination of their franchise agreement, sent on Sept. 18, Popeyes stated that it had advised Memon’s companies in June of “significant discrepancies” between the quantity of chicken the restaurants were buying from approved suppliers and the quantity of chicken that they sold.
The notice said the franchisee had not provided “sufficient or satisfactory” explanation of those discrepancies.
United States Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins unveiled the government’s promised and Trump-touted plan to rebuild the beef industry, but ranchers and packers were far from thrilled by the modest proposals.
“At USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) we are protecting our beef industry and incentivizing new ranchers to take up the noble vocation of ranching,” Rollins said.
“Today, USDA will immediately expedite deregulatory reforms, boost processing capacity, including getting more locally raised beef into schools, and working across the government to fix longstanding common-sense barriers for ranchers like outdated grazing restrictions.”
For the third prong — “Building Demand Alongside Domestic Supply” — the document states only that school nutrition programs will be encouraged to use locally grown foods including beef, and the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) will be released by Dec. 31.
For packers, the big-ticket promise is no overtime for meat inspectors staffing relatively small packing plants.
For deregulation, the main promise relates to leases on government lands, but the details will come in mid-November.
And Brooke said her officials will set up meetings to listen to farmers and ranchers concerns and ideas.
The U.S. beef herd has hit an historic low, cattle prices set records, packers are losing money and retail beef prices are high.
To encourage young people to take up ranching, Brooke announced that USDA’s Risk Management Agency is widening the availability of premium subsidies to newer ranchers.
But the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said it cannot support the Trump administration as long as it relaxes import controls on beef from Argentina.
United States President Donald Trump is getting pushback from his own party politicians from leading beef-ranching states over his plans to allow more beef from Argentina into the country.
And some are suggesting it would be better to provide incentives to cull dairy cows for produced-in-the-United States beef, noting it would also reduce excess milk production.
Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska, who is a rancher, said she has voiced her “deep concerns” to the White House.
“Bottom line: if the goal is addressing beef prices at the grocery store, this isn’t the way. Right now, government intervention in the beef market will hurt our cattle ranchers,” she said in a statement.
“The U.S. has safe, reliable beef, and it is the one bright spot in our struggling ag economy. Nebraska’s ranchers cannot afford to have the rug pulled out from under them when they’re just getting ahead or simply breaking even,” she said.
Senator Paul Rand from Kentucky noted that Trump is imposing many tariffs to protect American businesses and opening the door to more beef from Argentina runs counter to Trump’s key policy.