Green Zaatar under recall

 

Both Alarjawi and Royal Green Zaatar are on recall because Canadian Food Inspection Agency testing detected food-poisoning Salmonella bacteria.

The product was distributed in every province except Alberta.

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Halva product on recall

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency detected food-poisoning Salmonella bacteria in Hafez brand "Sugerless" Halva with Date Syrup so it is under recall.

It was distributed in Ontario and British Columbia.

War in Iran depresses farmers

 

Farmers turned pessimistic when the war on Iran sent fuel and fertilizer costs soaring.

The monthly Ag Economy Barometer based on a Purdue University survey found farmers’ mood was the worst since the fall of 2024. It came down by six points since March to 121 in April.

Two-thirds expect their incomes will decline this year.

Forty-six per cent they worry about prices for inputs and 14 per cent worry they may not be able to get what they need.

The percentage who feel the U.S, is headed in the right direction dropped from 65 on March to 57 per cent in April, the lowest in more than a year.

The percentage of producers who expected good times in the next five years was 37 per cent in April, which is 19 per cent lower than April 2025.

 There continues to be a large disparity in expectations between crop and livestock producers. 

Approximately 31 per cent of respondents expected good times for crop producers, while 69 per cent expected good times for livestock producers.

Beef farmers wary of trade deal

 

 

The Canadian Cattle Association has warned the federal government to be careful about making a trade deal with Mercosur, a trade group that includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay who would like to sell their beef to Canadians.

European farmers also objected strenuously to a Mercosur deal and eventually got a tariff-rate quota that is 7.5 per cent on the first 99,000 tonnes and 40 per cent tariff on any more than that.

The European-Mercusur deal took 25 years to negotiate.

More milk wanted

 

The Dairy Farmers of Ontario marketing board wants its members to ship more milk so it is adding a day’s worth of quota for May. 

It also announced it will not be fining producers for exceeding their quotas during April.

The board’s chairman said the decisions came because demand for milk protein has exceeded production.

Goat milk producers get penalty reprieve

The province is pausing its plan to begin fining goat-milk producers for high somatic cell counts in the milk they market and now wants to conduct more research before proceeding.

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness had planned to levy fines for milk that contains more than 1.5 million somatic cells per mililitre. They would also have faced a ban on selling their milk until somatic cell counts (SCC) came within limits it established.

Ontario Goats’ animal health and research committee presented international research on dairy goat SCC and its impacts on animal health and milk quality. Together with processors and producers, they consulted with OMAFA officials about the unique properties of SCC in goat milk. This informed the pause.

“By penalizing goat milk producers with unsustainable standards, the regulations will stifle a vital and growing sector,” wrote dairy goat producer Marlie Vanderlip in the Change.org petition launched in December.

She wrote that “Ontario, renowned for its progressive agricultural policies, must recognize that the unique characteristics of goat milk require tailored standards.”

A goat veterinarian said goats store 70 per cent of their milk in the gland cistern. This milk contains a mixture of cellular debris such as cytoplasmic particles and epithelial cells. In contrast, cattle store milk in the alveolar tissues, resulting in cleaner milk.

These non-pathological factors account for up to 50 to 90 per cent variance in somatic cell count in an individual doe, one goat veterinarian said.

Beef price-fixing case far from over

The United States federal government remains busy investigating price-fixing in the beef industry.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said a deal his officials reached with AgriStats will end information sharing among the companies that enabled them to discover each other’s plans for production volumes and pricing. 

He said the ongoing antitrust investigation into the broader meatpacking sector has involved more than three million documents and many interviews and it continues to urge whistleblowers to provide inside information and has said they could pocket “financial rewards.”

Justice Department officials said the four largest beef processors (Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS USA and National Beef Packing) control about 85 per cent of the U.S. fed cattle market. The companies have faced private lawsuits alleging price-fixing through supply restrictions, though they have 

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins linked the investigation to broader supply concerns, pointing to historically low cattle inventories and a decline in U.S. ranchers. She also raised concerns about foreign ownership among major processors.

JBS, the largest meat-packing company in the world,i s based in Brazil and Smithfield, the largest hog production and pork-packing company in the United States, is owned by WH Group of China.