Federal government vows to crack down on spent fowl fraud

Federal government vows to crack down on spent fowl fraud

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will be working together to crack down on spent fowl fraud.

“The issue of spent fowl misrepresentation is one that demands decisive action,” said Kody Blois, federal minister of agriculture and agri-food and rural economic development, and David J. McQuinty, federal minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, in a March 20 joint statement.

“This is fraud and it undermines consumers, our farmers, distorts our markets, and puts Canadian jobs at risk.”

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Spent fowl misrepresentation is a form of food fraud that occurs when broiler chicken for import into Canada is intentionally labelled as spent fowl (old laying hens). Spent fowl is duty and tariff free when imported from the United States. Broiler chicken is not.

The duty free regulation is agreed upon under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Chicken coming into Canada is subject to import controls while spent fowl is not, Chicken Farmers of Canada said on its website. Spent fowl fraud costs the Canadian chicken sector millions of dollars.

“In 2020, Canada imported the equivalent of 77 per cent of the U.S.’s entire spent fowl production – despite the fact that the U.S. exports spent fowl to countries other than Canada, and that there is also a substantial American domestic demand for spent fowl meat,” the organization said. “Clearly something is amiss.”

Chicken Farmers of Canada have called for the federal government to implement mandatory certification for spent fowl, and other measures like DNA testing.

Since 2010, CBSA and CFIA inspections and verifications have resulted in over $361 million in duties, interest and penalties on misdeclared spent fowl, the federal government said in the statement.

Source: Farmtario.com

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