Meat recall due to listeria

Charcuterie products sold under two brands were recalled over the weekend after a finding of Listeria monocytogenes, public health authorities announced.

Boucherie Charcuterie Lyn Tremblay Inc. is recalling Charlevoisienne and Joe Smoked Meat brands which were distributed through both food service, retail channels and online.

“This recall was triggered by test results,” the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said. “There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of these products.”

Four products were recalled:

·       Charlevoisienne’s “Lardons vrac,” a diced bacon, in  two-kilogram packages.

·       Charlevoisienne’s “Lardons,” a diced bacon, in 200-gram packages.

·       Charlevoisienne’s “Jambon Québécois à l’érable Entier,” a glazed ham, in 2.5 kilogram packages.

·       Joe Smoked Meat’s “Smoked Meat Maigre,” in 400-gram packages.

·        

Boucherie Charcuterie Lyn Tremblay Inc. is based in Saint-Urbain, Quebec, about 75 miles northeast of Quebec City.

This news was posted by Meatingplace Magazine. CFIA has yet to send out e-mails.   

Jeremy Hanson feature speaker for Grain Farmers

 

Colonel Jeremy Hanson, crew member on the space flight to the far side of the moon, will be a feature speaker at the annual Grain  Farmers of Ontario’s March Classic next March.

He was born and raised on a farm near Ailsa Craig and is an inspiration for all Ontario farm youth, said Grain Farmers chief executive officer Crosby Devitt.

Also speaking will be Kirsten Hillman, former Canadian Ambassador to the United States. She will talk about trade relationships.

Hanson will also participate in a question period.

The annual even will be Tuesday, March 23, at the Niagara Falls Convention Centre.

Love for beef persists

 

CoBank said consumers continue to pay premium prices for beef despite historically tight cattle supplies and elevated retail prices. A

Nor do they turn to alternatives such as chicken and pork as pricing would indicate.

The CoBank report said the disconnect highlights the importance of factors beyond price, including taste preferences, perceived quality, convenience, meal habits and foodservice menu offerings. 

According to CoBank, animal protein markets are becoming increasingly out of sync with changing consumer purchasing behavior. 

Supply responses vary significantly by species, creating different market conditions for beef, pork and poultry producers. The report suggests that protein purchasing decisions are influenced by a combination of economic and lifestyle factors rather than price alone.

Turkey price-fixing heads to trial

 

An Illinois federal judge has cleared the way for antitrust claims against Butterball and two other turkey processors to proceed to trial,.

But Justice Sunil Harjani dismissed similar claims against Perdue Farms and Foster Farms. 

The case that can now go to trial by jury alleges turkey producers exchanged competitively sensitive information and coordinated supply decisions to inflate turkey prices between 2010 and 2016. Defendants have denied wrongdoing.

Tyson Foods and Cargill previously settled claims with plaintiffs.

Anderson to head Agricorp

Robert Anderson of Strathroy has been chosen by Ontario Agriculture Minister Trevor Jones to be chairman of Agricorp.

He takes over from John Verkaik.

Anderson has spent more than 30 years in the Ontario food processing sector, including vice-president of operations for Quebec’s Nortera Foods. He also spent 10 years as a member of the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission.

Anderson holds a bachelor’s degree in science in agriculture from the University of Guelph and is still involved in his family’s vegetable and grain farming operation.

World animal health lacking funding

The world is failing to invest in animal health despite mounting evidence that the cost of inaction far exceeds the cost of prevention, according to the annual State of the World’s Animal Health report published by the World Organisation for Animal Health.

It said animal diseases destroy more than 20 per cent of ​​global animal production.

These impacts are felt most acutely in low- and middle-income countries, where animal health plays a critical role in sustaining livelihoods, food security and economic resilience. 

Inadequately funded systems struggle to detect and respond to diseases early, while also facing challenges in maintaining animal welfare standards. it said.

Recent reductions in international aid budgets are compounding the pressure. Development assistance for health has declined to approximately US $39.1 billion in 2025, with animal health accounting for less than 2.5 pert cent of that total. 

In this context, strengthening animal health systems – the shared infrastructure that guards against naturally emerging diseases, accidental releases and deliberate biological threats alike – remains underfunded, despite their essential role in managing cross-border risks, including emerging diseases and biological threats, the report said.

Bringing Veterinary Services in every country up to international standards would cost approximately US $2.3 billion per year, less than 0.05 per cent of the US $3.6 trillion in economic losses attributed to COVID-19 in 2020, a disease that most likely emerged from an animal source, it said.

Seventy-five per cent of emerging infectious diseases in humans originate in animals, making animal health systems the world’s first line of defence against outbreaks, including a potential next pandemic. However, the report indicates that these systems are under strain, with 18 per cent of countries recently assessed showing declining veterinary capacity, and 22 per cent showing declining paraprofessional capacity.

Based on 54 countries and territories assessed by WOAH, it is estimated that an average 52 per cent budget increase would be required to meet the actual annual cost of effective Veterinary Services. 

The report calls on governments to increase funding for animal health systems and to align funding with long-term prevention rather than crisis response.

Global deal for sharing food safety

 

There is a new global deal to share information about livestock and poultry diseases that can infect people and information about food safety.

The Quadripartite Alliance—comprising the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)—together with regional partners including the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Regional International Organization for Plant and Animal Health (OIRSA), announced the signing of a Joint Declaration to strengthen regional coordination under the One Health approach in the Americas, marking the first regional agreement of its kind.

Through this Declaration, the participating organizations reaffirm their commitment to promoting coordinated responses to health threats that transcend sectors and borders, contributing to the protection of the health of people, animals and ecosystems across the Americas.