Pork team visited China

Officials from the Canadian Pork Council and the Canadian Meat 

Council went to China to talk trade.

They were with federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay who was also trying to stave off Chinese restrictions on Canadian canola.

China announced an anti-dumping investigation on Canadian canola right after Canada announced a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese-made electrical vehicles.

Canadian Pork Council chairman René Roy said the mission comes at a pivotal time.

“Canadian pork producers are passionate about building strong trading relationships with China. Having one of our government’s most senior ministers attending this mission is an indication of that commitment.”

“We have always been committed to providing world-class, sustainable pork, and we know there is potential to provide even more if required to meet the growing demand in China,” Roy said.

Both organizations said in a joint statement that they have returned home with valuable insights.

Detroit packer recalls hamburger

 

Wolverine Packing Co. of Detroit is recalling 167,277 pounds of ground beef.

The United States Food Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said it found E. coli 0157:H7 food-poisoning bacteria in the meat.

So far the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has not issued any cautions to cross-border shoppers.

Ag minister went to China

 

Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay went to China last week to plead for ongoing sales of canola.

China has launched an anti-dumping investigation into canola from Canada.

That came after Canada imposed a 100 per cent tariff on China’s electric vehicles.

Vote favours nuclear dump in the North

 

Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation members have voted in favour of continuing negotiations to host a nuclear dump on nearby land.

The site is competing with another in Huron County where residents recently narrowly voted in favour of continuing negotiations.

“This is just the beginning of a long process, and our Nation will be leading every step of the way,” said Chief Clayton Wetelainen in a prepared statement.

Ignace municipal councillors earlier voted unanimously to move forward as a potential host of the $26 billion project.

Saskatoon lab says animals sourced COVID-19

 A researcher in Saskatoon is part of a team that is saying it has strong evidence that the COVID-19 virus jumped from infected animals to humans, rather than originating from a laboratory leak. 

The team analysed hundreds of genetic samples to conclude that the virus jumped from animals to humans in a food market in Wuhan, China.

Angie Rasmussen, a study co-author and virologist at the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infection Disease Organization, told the CBC "it's very difficult to explain any other way, besides that virus was brought there with those live animals and it spilled over, twice actually, into the human population at the market.”

The study has been published in Cell, scientific journal.

Canadians accused of potato price fixing

McCain Foods and Cavendish farms, both dominant potato processors in the Maritimes, are named in a price-fixing lawsuit against them and J.R. Simplot and Lamb Weston.

They are being accused of sharing detailed, sensitive inside information with each other as part of an alleged conspiracy to raise the price of their goods and make more money off consumers.

In one lawsuit filed in Illinois on Friday, a Pennsylvania-based supermarket chain alleged McCain, Cavendish, Lamb Weston and J.R. Simplot have been working together to fix the price of frozen potato products "above competitive levels," in violation of antitrust laws, since at least early 2021.

The document on behalf of Redner's Markets claimed the so-called potato cartel made "matching, simultaneous or near-simultaneous price increases" in 2021 and 2022. The claim said one restaurant owner in Washington, D.C., noticed the alleged timing and posted about it online on April 19, 2022.

"Amazing how all of the major suppliers for french fries and the like are all raising their prices at the same time and by the same amount," read a post on X from the owner of Ivey and Covey. "Totally not collusion or anything, right?"

British farmers stage protest

Thousands of farmers descended on the British Parliament this week to protest restoration of a capital gains tax on farm inheritances.

It is the first demonstration of its kind in England where farmers have not copied frequent farm protests in France, Germany and other member countries of the European Union.

In the 1990s the inheritance tax was removed and now the government has brought in a 20 per cent tax on inheritances exceeding $1.83 million Cdn.

They demonstrated with banners, shouted through bullhorns and brought toy tractors. Their peers in Europe created tractor blockades, burned straw bales and spread manure to punctuate their protests.