MAD COW: Pet food producers see trouble

[Guest guest]

> http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?

pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1 & c=Article & cid=1052251634240 & call_pageid=96

8332188774 & col=968350116467

> May. 23, 2003. 01:00 AM

>

>

> Pet food producers see trouble for exports

> `Meat meal' use closes border

>

> Layoffs likely in $1-billion industry

>

>

> DANA FLAVELLE

> BUSINESS REPORTER

>

> Canadian pet food makers are losing $500,000 a day and will soon begin

> to cut production and lay off workers because of the mad cow scare,

> their association warns.

>

> " Right now, it looks quite bad for the industry, " said Marty

> Smart-Wilder, executive director of the Pet Food Association of Canada.

>

> The $1-billion-a-year industry exports roughly a quarter of its output,

> mostly to the United States, which shut its borders to Canadian beef

> products after a cow in Alberta was diagnosed with bovine spongiform

> encephalopathy (BSE) on Tuesday.

>

> Though there is no evidence any pet has ever caught a version of BSE

> from eating tainted commercial pet food, some importing countries were

> not taking any chances this week.

>

> " If the border continues to be closed it would have quite an impact on

> Canadian manufacturers, " Smart-Wilder said in an interview yesterday.

> The association represents 13 pet food producers across Canada that

> employ some 3,000 people.

>

> Many pet food products are made with animal by-products considered unfit

> for human consumption. Protein powder may be added to dry pet food;

> gelatine may be used to enhance wet canned food. Those by-products could

> contain animal protein from cows that died of bovine spongiform

> encephalopathy (BSE).

>

> In fact, the cow that was diagnosed with BSE after slaughter was sent to

> a rendering plant in northern Alberta, where its remains entered the

> non-human food chain destined for other farm animals and pets.

>

> " It was a small rendering facility in a remote part of northern Alberta.

> Pet food would be a small percentage of their business, " she said. " Most

> of our members are based in Ontario and source their animal protein in

> Ontario. "

>

> The amount added to pet food is " minimal " and identified on labels as

> " meat meal, " she said.

>

> Still, the border closing is hitting some of the big multi-national

> firms, with plants in Canada, hardest. The firms include Effem Foods,

> which operates a plant in Bolton, just north of Toronto.

>

> " We ship a significant amount across the border, " said a spokesperson

> for Effem. Right now, nothing is getting through. Whether the company

> starts cutting production will depend on how long the border remains

> closed, she said.

>

> Notably, some Canadian pet food companies that had already modified

> their practices to meet tough European standards are still able to ship

> to Europe, said Mike Price, an assistant director in the food bureau of

> Agriculture Canada.

>

> These companies use animal by-products obtained from chickens, not beef,

> which was banned in Europe after several mad cow scares swept the

> continent in the `80s and `90s.

>

> Of the $230 million worth of pet food exported from Canada, about $25

> million goes to Europe with the rest going to the United States, said

> Price.

>

> Later this year, Canadian exporters must meet an even higher European

> standard - that pet food be made only from protein fit for human

> consumption.