GHY Tradelines

(Sarah Schmidt — Postmedia News)

Canada’s food-safety inspection force will shrink by as many as 100 inspectors — cuts the workers’ union says will have an impact on the safety of food purchased by Canadians.

The union representing food inspectors says the cuts, to be implemented over three years to help save the Canadian Food Inspection Agency $56 million in operating costs by 2014-15, will reverse increases to the inspection force that were put in place in response to the deadly listeriosis outbreak in 2008.

“This decision will make the inspector shortage worse, not better. And because the government has failed to consult its own inspectors, they are cutting food safety blindly with little understanding of the consequences,” Bob Kingston, president of the Agriculture Union of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said Wednesday. Read more here.
 

(Reuters)

India is preparing to challenge a U.S. import duty on steel pipes by requesting “consultations” at the World Trade Organisation, a senior trade ministry official said, in the latest in a series of recent disputes between the two allies.

The United States Commerce Department in March set a preliminary import duty of nearly 286 percent on a certain type of steel pipe from India to offset government subsidies. A final decision on duty rates is expected by August.

The Indian government will challenge the allegation that the manufacture of the pipes is indeed being subsidised, the official, who declined to be named given the sensitive nature of the matter, told Reuters… Read more here.
 

(CBC News)

Ottawa ‘playing with fire’ by reducing CBSA jobs, says security expert

Major job cuts at the Canada Border Services Agency could undermine national security and public safety, according to a security expert and public-sector union officials.

A total of 1,137 border agency employees were notified on Wednesday that they could lose their jobs as part of a massive wave of federal budget cuts, according to the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

Officials with PSAC did not have a regional breakdown of affected jobs at the CBSA, which staffs border crossings across the country. Read more here.
 

(The Canadian Press)

Canada is willing to discuss everything — including its controversial supply management system — when it sits down with other countries to negotiate a tantalizing trans-Pacific free trade zone, said Trade Minister Ed Fast.

Fast underlined that the Conservatives have promised egg, dairy and poultry farmers that they will protect their interests.

But he also suggested that all the countries involved — including nations such and the United States and New Zealand — would have their own sticking points to hash out.

Fast made the comments as he and Prime Minister Stephen Harper prepare to participate in the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia this weekend. The summit brings together 34 hemispheric leaders.

“We’re prepared to discuss everything at the negotiating table, and every partner brings certain sensitive areas to the table which they defend aggressively, and at the end of the day they make a decision on whether to sign on to an agreement, whether they see the trade interests of their country being moved forward in a substantive way,” Fast said in an interview from Lima, Peru. Read more here.
 

(Capital Business Credit)

Importers who sell to major American retailers report that they have or have plans to move a portion of their manufacturing outside of China due to increased costs of raw materials and logistics, as well as the difficulties China-based factories face in obtaining financing.

According to Capital Business Credit’s (CBC) Global Retail Manufacturers and Importers Survey, 50% of U.S.-based importers have moved some of their manufacturing outside of China and a third (34.2%) are considering moving manufacturing outside of the continent.

“While China will continue to be the dominant player when it comes to the manufacturing of goods sold in the U.S. there is an interesting shift that is occurring,” said Andrew Tananbaum, executive chairman of Capital Business Credit. “The lending environment combined with a number of other factors including cost of labor, raw materials and logistics have made manufacturing in other countries – most importantly the U.S. – more attractive. As the American economy continues to recover, and retail sales continue to improve, the manufacturer/importer relationship will be critical in ensuring that enough goods are made and shipped to keep store shelves stocked.” Read more here.
 

(CFIA)

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) inspectors will continue to perform risk-based label verification activities. The CFIA is also developing and implementing an online self-assessment labelling tool. This tool will help producers, manufacturers and retailers create compliant labels. While it is intended for industry, this new public tool may also be used by consumers to learn more about labelling and the rules companies are required to follow.

The intent of this tool is to create greater industry awareness, understanding and compliance with labelling requirements for a broad range of information such as:
• net quantity,
• date markings,
• nutrition labelling,
• bilingual labelling, and
• legibility and location.

It is expected that this tool will reduce the amount of time CFIA staff spend working directly with industry to explain and clarify labelling rules. The CFIA expects to launch the labelling tool in 2014-2015. In the interim, industry and other stakeholders will be consulted to ensure that this new tool meets its desired outcome.

CFIA inspectors will continue to perform risk-based label verification activities to check that the information on the labels reflects what is actually in the product. For example, the CFIA may verify a product labelled as containing “0 grams of trans fat” per serving to see if the product truly contains that level. As well, the CFIA will continue to test for the potential presence of undeclared allergens in food products.

Ongoing label verification activities will continue to be carried out in many ways; through investigations into complaints, facility inspections, inspections at the retail level and laboratory testing of products, including verification of the nutrient content or calories in the food at manufacturers, importers and retailers.

In addition to developing the labelling tool, the CFIA will be removing regulations that restrict the sizes of containers for food. These regulations are outdated and limit industry innovation and consumer choices. Repealing regulations on container sizes across food commodities will provide more options for consumers and industry alike.

Food container size regulations are not related to health and safety. Changing the CFIA’s role and activities in this area allows the Agency to place a greater focus on higher priority activities including health and safety aspects of the food production and regulatory systems.