Milk trucker banned

 

A milk trucker for S.D.& G. Milk Transporter Ltd. is banned from picking up milk from Sandy Lane Farms Inc. of RR 1, Berwick.

The company agreed to ban the employee who repeatedly clashed with Ronald Van Loon, owner of Sandy Lane.

But the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal did not agree with Van Loon’s request to have S.D.& G. banned from picking up milk at Sandy Lane.

Eating meat is a health risk, study finds

Harvard University researchers have published a study saying people who eat processed meats risk an early death.

The study published in the British Medical Journal is based on dietary data from more than 100,000 clients of health professionals in the United States, clients without a history of major illnesses. 

They categorized diets into four groups: unprocessed, minimally processed, processed and “ultra-processed foods.”

Participants reported their lifestyle habits and health every two years over a 30-year span.

While “ultra-processed foods” showed a four per cent increase in mortality risk, not all categories within the group had the same effect. Whole grain “ultra-processed foods” didn't pose the same risks as sugary beverages or processed meats, the study showed.

The study also found associations between “ultra-processed foods” and organ-specific causes of death, including an ab eight per cent increase in the risk of death from brain diseases such as dementia.

Loblaws signs on to code – kind of

 

Loblaws has finally signed on to the voluntary industry code of practice, but said it’s participation is contingent on all player signing on.

Walmart and Costco remain holdouts.

The code has been three years in the making and is basically a restraint on the bullying the large supermarket chains have practiced in dealings with suppliers.

The one that got a lot of attention was a discount on suppliers’ invoices in 2020.

There are, however, more than 200 discounts, rebates and allowances the big chains impose on suppliers, such as a discount for a percentage of canned goods for dents, whether or not there actually are dented cans, charges for placing goods at eye level and at the end of aisles, for stickers on grab attention along aisles and for providing warehouse space for new products or new sizes for familiar products.

Saputo stepping aside

Lino Saputo Jr. is leaving his chief executive officer role in August. He has held the position for more than 20 years, taking over from his father.

His grandfather, Giuseppe, founded the cheese business in Montreal in 1954. It is now a global dairy processing company.

Carl Colizza, the current president and chief operating officer of Saputo’s North America business division, will be the new president and chief executive officer. He has been with Saputo since1998.

Saputo Jr., who transitioned to chief executive officer in 2004 and then also became president in 2022, said his “role will shift into a new capacity more focused on strategic oversight” in support of the company’s management team.

B.C. mink owners lose court case

Five mink farm owners have lost a lawsuit they brought against the provincial government which ordered their avian-flu-infected animals destroyed.

The province shut them down in November, 2021, in the midst of a devastating round of highly-pathogenic avian influenza in poultry flocks.

B.C.is the only jurisdiction in North America to shut down an entire farm sector.

 The province, former agriculture minister Lana Popham, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and former chief veterinarian Dr. Rayna Gunvaldsen were named in suits launched by each of the five farms: C&A Mink Ranch Ltd., Dargatz Mink Ranch Ltd., Dogwood Fur Farms Ltd., Engerbretson Fur Farm Ltd. and Williams Fur Farm Ltd.

The five lawsuits each alleged “misfeasance in public office and constructive taking” by the defendants, allegations which Justice Amy Francis said are flawed.

Francis ruled that “the plaintiffs have failed to plead facts capable of establishing that any of the defendants acted unlawfully” and further that “the claim of constructive taking is fundamentally flawed.”

Francis said that the enactment of the order in council shutting down mink farming in the province, even if “for political reasons rather than public health reasons” is not unlawful.

The Canada Mink Breeders Association and British Columbia Mink Producers Association also lost their challenges.

CFIA approves ground beef from Paraguay

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced it has approved Paraguay to ship pH matured boneless beef to the Canadian market.

The e-mail from the CFIA also indicates that the status for Puerto Rico and Switzerland is under review.

Another PED outbreak

There has been another outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus in Middlesex County.

This time the virus hit a farrow-to-finish operation.

Since May 8, there have been four outbreaks, three of them in Middlesex and one in Oxford county.