McDonald's Restaurants Canada Supports Mandatory Government Livestock Traceability By 2011 

Safety, Quality and Consistency Of Core Menu Products 
By Thomas Hagey Cambridge Now, Canada

Where's The Beef From?

McDonalds Canada, one of the world's largest buyers of Canadian beef, is supporting
the Canadian government to implement mandatory livestock traceability by 2011.

What does this mean? In short, the people who sell you a hamburger will be able to
know the origin of the beef you're eating.

"McDonald's believes that a robust, national traceability system is critical to
ensuring consumer confidence and building brand trust in the beef industry," says
Jeff Kroll, senior vice-president of McDonald's Restaurants of Canada guest speaker
to the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association.

"McDonald's Canada proudly supports the Canadian beef industry," says Kroll. "Beef
is at the core of our menu and with the help of our dedicated Canadian partners in
the industry, we are meeting the needs of our customers by delivering safety,
quality, consistency, and innovation in our varied beef offerings." 

"While it's an additional cost, we believe that it's simply the right thing to
do.Traceability is the right thing for all of us to do for our businesses and our
customers, both domestically and abroad," Kroll says.

Growing consumer awareness about food production and demand for greater food safety
after the BSE (Mad Cow) outbreak has caused McDonald's to emphasize traceability for
all menu items. In 2009, the company purchased 64 million pounds of locally raised
Canadian beef, 44 million pounds of chicken and 62 million eggs. In Canada, 2.8
million people eat at McDonald's daily -- almost 10 per cent of the population.

Kroll believes that Canadian consumers will pay more for products which have a
safety firewall in place.

Livestock Traceability

Traceability is the ability to follow an item or a group of items - be it animal,
plant, food product or ingredient - from one point in the supply chain to another,
either backwards or forwards. Livestock traceability systems are based upon three
basic elements: animal identification; premises identification; and animal movement.

Traceability systems are important, effective tools that can be used for many
things, including the protection of animal health, public health and food safety.
They can help reduce response time, thereby limiting economic, environmental and
social impacts of emergency situations such as disease outbreaks.

Industry-led animal identification systems currently exist for cattle, bison and
sheep. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) enforces identification
requirements for these sectors under the Health of Animals Regulations.

The Canadian Cattle Identification Program

Animal identification is a fundamental component of livestock traceability. The
ability to identify animals and their origins during an animal health or food safety
emergency is paramount to the success of the response operation and the protection
of human and animal health.

The Canadian Cattle Identification Program (CCIP) is an industry-led trace-back
system designed to help trace sources of animal health and food safety problems. It
was introduced in 2001, and is applicable to all cattle and bison in Canada.

How Does The Program Work?

In practical terms, all cattle and bison must be identified with an approved ear tag
before leaving the farm of origin - the farm or ranch where the animal was born.

All cattle and bison that are imported must also be identified. An animal may be
tagged before importation or upon arrival to its destination. Cattle imported for
immediate slaughter do not need to be identified.

All tags are embedded with a unique identification number that is allocated by the
Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA), which collects and stores
identification information for most provinces in its national database. The
exception is the province of Quebec, where the cattle identification program is
managed by Agri-Traçabilité Québec (ATQ). All identification numbers are distributed
to cattle and bison producers through authorized tag dealers.

The unique identification number of each animal is maintained throughout its life,
until the animal is slaughtered at an abattoir or exported.

Additional regulatory requirements include the following:

* All dairy cattle must be identified with two tags - a dangle tag and a
Radio-Frequency * Identification (RFID), both bearing the same identification
number.

* The manufacturing, sale, and distribution of tags must be reported to the CCIA.

* Lost and damaged tags must be reported to the CCIA and replaced.

*Abattoirs, deadstock operators and rendering plants must report the identification
number of slaughtered cattle and bison or the receipt of their carcasses.

* The import and export of cattle and bison must be reported to the CCIA.

Program Enforcement

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) enforces national identification and
movement reporting requirements for cattle and bison under the authority of the
Health of Animals Regulations. Violations of any of the requirements may result in
warning letters, fines or, in some cases, prosecution.

About BSE or Mad Cow Disease

BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is a progressive neurological disorder of
cattle that results from infection by an unusual transmissible agent called a prion.
The nature of the transmissible agent is not well understood. Currently, the most
accepted theory is that the agent is a modified form of a normal protein known as
prion protein. For reasons that are not yet understood, the normal prion protein
changes into a pathogenic (harmful) form that then damages the central nervous
system of cattle.

Sources: CNW/ Agriculture and Agri-food Canada/Canadian Food Inspection Agency