Gary Stordy, the Director of Government and Corporate Affairs with the Canadian Pork Council, said the Canadian pork sector is hoping for a speedy resolution of a situation resulting in the suspension of exports of pork and beef to China.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency stopped issuing export certificates to China for all pork and beef products as of June 25. This action resulted in the suspension of shipments of those products to that nation after China called into question the validity of Canadian export certificates.
Officials of both nations have remained in close contact regarding the issue, and an RCMP criminal investigation is now underway.
Stordy stressed this is in no way a food safety issue but appears to be a situation where someone forged these Canadian export certificates and now is under a criminal investigation.
“We are asking the Canadian government to continue the dialogue between the two government officials, the CFIA in Canada and Chinese authorities and to inform us of the progress,” he said. “We realize this will take some time to resolve; weeks rather than months, but we do understand that this is a criminal investigation.”
Stordy said it is too early to tell what the economic impact will be for the Canadian industry.
“We are watching and monitoring the system, but there are some silver linings. Essentially all of the product en route or able to be shipped as of June 25 proceeded to the market,” he said. “The rest of the product that has not been prepared or boxed and ready to go to China will ideally be absorbed within other markets.
Stordy said the temporary suspension is not related to any food safety issues but is, frankly, the result of fraudulent paperwork. • — By Harry Siemens