Big meat gang is getting awfully smelly

[Blaithin]

I’m concerned that a paper, and an agriculture paper at that, feels it should publish a column titled in such a way as to have next to nothing to do with the content yet carry with it the strength to tarnish an entire industry.

It highlights itself like Vegan propaganda material. The entire meat industry is at fault! Meat stinks. Big meat is bad! (Stop eating meat!)

How am I, as a beef producer, even involved in anything in that article? I’m not in that country. I’m in no control where my animals end up slaughtered if I sell them on to someone else for finishing. I have no capability to grant or deny packing plants anything.

My industry is far, far more than the end chain processor and a foreign government. People need to realize that. We are far more than feedlots. We are far more than a finishing method. We are far more than a step on the healthy eating pyramid that may or may not be removed. Stop grouping one industry together under a negative faucet it has in order to get sensationalized garbage to print.

Meat is not the issue in that article. The fact it can run on like it’s meat that is the problem and at the end you feel you can say it’s a concern I need to have for my industry is hogwash. The concern I have for my industry from it is it’s irrelevant, misleading and sensationalized title choice that will have negative impacts on all meat production.

Labour laws are the problem that article is trying to highlight. Government complacency and corruption is the problem. And yes, those are issues that are worth being concerned about, but not by me because I’m in the same, vague, industry, but by everyone. The only thing it has to do with meat is it’s picking on the packers.

There are things I’d like changed in regards to slaughtering but they are things in Canada. Things that will effect me. Not American conspiracies about being bought and owned by big name Agri food companies.

The more I type on this thread, the grouchier I get at the paper for running that column hah

[chuckChuck]

Consumers have every right to know how the meat industry treats its workers. They also have every right to know how safe their meat is and how it is produced and how food safety rules are applied.

Its called accountability and transparency. As a consumer and a producer I expect nothing less.

There is a good chance the US industry has influenced food safety rules in their favour as well. Cutting corners, red tape and reducing costs is what is all about when you only think about the bottom line.

And I buy my meat from local producers as much as possible to support them and to know how it was produced and processed.

Consumers who don't have this choice should also have some assurances and trust that their meat is safe.

[Blaithin]

So we should judge the CFIA and the plants in Canada based on an article we read about American policy during Covid?

Sorry but what does the latter have to do with our food safety.

American food safety policy in general is substandard to Canadian, at least in the beef department which I am more familiar with. But I don’t recall that article mentioning acceptable waste products America feeds its cattle that are not allowed in Canada, or America’s lack of an established traceability program. Probably because that isn’t a food safety article.

It’s a labour article.

Get the meat out of it.

Call out the companies, not the product, not the industry.

You think packing plants are the only culprits?

There is nothing transparent about that article. It’s a flag trying to catch your attention to something way out in the field.

[chuckChuck]

Its also about how the meat packing industry has the ear of the US administration. So its not just a labour issue article.

You are correct Canada is different thankfully. But the trade and market is integrated. So I am not sure we should be complacent about labour and food safety in the US system because we are consuming their meat products.

We export and import live and finished product. The US is one of our suppliers and buyers.

We import a lot of red meat. Much of it comes from the US. Over 50% of our beef imports come from the US.

Red meat trade balance reports:

https://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/animal-industry/red-meat-and-livestock-market-information/trade-balance/?id=1415860000005 https://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/animal-industry/red-meat-and-livestock-market-information/trade-balance/?id=1415860000005

[chuckChuck]

"And it’s still going on even as most U.S. meat producers — and they are producers because the packers, not individual farmers, own the overwhelming majority of America’s slaughter animals today — are increasingly supported by taxpayer subsidies just to stay in business.

But even that’s not enough for the packers. Now they are literally writing their own food — and employee — safety rules."

Blaithin, Does this not concern you?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

The meat packing industry is unique, in that it does require an immediate solution, you can't deliberate for months or even days without disrupting the entire chain, from producer to consumer.

I can't think of another industry, except maybe fruit/vegetable and dairy that requires such urgency. There is no storage for live animals, and if any step along the way gets backed up, the only solution(at least with poultry and pigs) is euthanizing entire generations with no where for them to go. It literally has to be just in time delivery at all stages.

Shutting down packing plants would be akin to shutting down every airport runway on a typical day with all the planes in the air.

[Blaithin]

"And it’s still going on even as most U.S. meat producers — and they are producers because the packers, not individual farmers, own the overwhelming majority of America’s slaughter animals today — are increasingly supported by taxpayer subsidies just to stay in business.

But even that’s not enough for the packers. Now they are literally writing their own food — and employee — safety rules."

Blaithin, Does this not concern you?

No.

Why should American governance concern me Chuck?

I have enough concerns about Canada, I see no point worrying about their dumpster fire.

There is a finite amount of energy for me to focus on things, America has never even been on that list.

You say I should be concerned for worker safety and for industry appearance. And I am. Here. There is far more to worry about within American ag than just it’s packing plants and none of it is on my list of things to fix or worry about.

Should I also start investing large amounts of energy into the Australian industry and its tendency towards live export? (Or just focus on Canada’s issues with it)

Or should I instead spend time fretting about the over regulation that is beginning to hobble functioning in the UK? (Or focus on striking a balance here in Canada do we don’t end up in the same boat)

Please tell me which foreign policies you believe I should invest myself into.

Most of American agriculture is overwhelmingly supported by subsidies so the packers are hardly unique in that aspect.

I am not a Crusader Chuck. I almost couldn’t care less what America does to itself. It’s just unfortunate we’re directly attached to it. My concern is Canadian employees in Canadian plants and while there were issues in those locations, I believe for the most part they were handled quickly and effectively and with little to no ground to say workers were exploited or bullied. If you can bring up a similar article about Canadian plants, then I can get concerned. But I doubt you can because it was handled differently.

Also, if it was simply this article written for Canada I would just be angered that such an attempt at political manipulation would be attached to yet another negatively geared slander towards an entire ag sector.

[furrowtickler]

Chuck really ?? This is an American workers issue . I agree with Blathin totally on this

[chuckChuck]

Fair enough.

But negative consumer concerns about labour and food safety issues can have an impact on both sides of the border whether we like it or not. And perhaps there is an opportunity for Canadian producers to expand their share of domestic consumption?

Perhaps the story is a cautionary example of what happens when you let powerful processors have oversized influence over the industry and producers.

Since our markets are very integrated we shouldn’t ignore What happens in the US. I know farmers there are very concerned about their loss of control where packers own so much of the supply. It’s not a free and open market.

[chuckChuck]

There is also a story about Canadian packing plants that has not been fully told. Do we really know what’s going on in Brooks, High River, Brandon and across the country? Surely producers and consumers should be informed if there are issues. The owners are some of the same owners who mistreat workers in the US. http://globalnews.ca/news/7054288/meat-processing-changes-coronavirus/ http://globalnews.ca/news/7054288/meat-processing-changes-coronavirus/

[Blaithin]

It’s hardly news there are issues within Canadian packing.

The small butcher has almost disappeared and all that’s left are big names. Even smaller scale, large operations like Harmony Beef, are few and far between and often struggling.

Much of that is to do with a multitude of factors, including regulations.

That issue, however, was never mentioned in your article or any of your proceeding posts. It is a different issue entirely from labour concerns.

[blackpowder]

Blaithin has a lot of patience.
Actually cool if ag had that much power in Ottawa.