Ryding-Regency Meat Packers remains shut down, making an already tight processing capacity situation event more challenging for Ontario farmers.
The Toronto company, along with St. Ann’s Food, announced a recall Tuesday of a long list of its products because of concerns with E. coli O157:H7. More products were added to the recall on Thursday.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says it suspended the licence of the company because the beef processor “failed to implement effective control measures in accordance with Part 4 of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR).” Part 4 describes controls that have to be applied in order to reduce risks.
Read Also
U.S. livestock: Cattle strength continues
Cattle futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were stronger on Friday, hitting fresh highs to end the week.
Why it matters: Ontario farmers already have limited options for selling their beef cattle for processing. One less makes the market even tighter.
CFIA says the plant’s original licence suspension, in late September, related to ground pork, ground beef and burger products that were recalled by Alpha Meat Packers/Salaison Alpha at Anjou, Que.
The company got the affected products from Ryding-Regency Meat Packers.
“While Beef Farmers of Ontario (BFO) is very concerned about this situation and the impact on Ontario beef producers, we have full confidence in our regulatory system and will be reviewing the findings of the CFIA investigation when they become available,” the organization said in a statement.
“We have been assured by the leadership at Ryding-Regency that they are actively working with CFIA to resolve the issues that have been identified, with the goal of minimizing time out of the market.”
BFO encourages beef producers who ship to Ryding-Regency to contact the buyer they deal with.
— John Greig is editor of Farmtario.
