As the year ended, he Canadian Food Inspection Service (CFIA) reported two more successful prosecutions for violating the laws it enforces.
On Dec. 31st, CFIA announced the Nov. 10, 2009 conviction against JBK Meat Products Inc., doing business as M. Gross 2000 of Toronto, in the Ontario Court of Justice in St. Thomas for one count of violating the Meat Inspection Act.
The company was fined a total of $15,000.
The Meat Inspection Act pertains to the import and export of and interprovincial trade in meat products, as well as the registration of establishments and the inspection of animals and meat products in registered establishments. It also sets the standards for those establishments.
In August 2007, the company sent 19,911 kilograms of beef to Montreal, Quebec from Malahide Township, near Aylmer, Ontario, thereby violating section 8(a) of the Meat Inspection Act.
The section states that no person shall send or convey a meat product from one province to another unless it was prepared or stored in a registered establishment that was operated in accordance with this Act and the regulations.
JBK Meat Products Inc. is not a federally registered meat establishment.
On Dec 24th, CFIA announced that on May 15, 2009, the Evergreen Colony Ltd. operating as Evergreen Poultry Farms in the Winnipeg area, pleaded guilty to an offense related to the grading and selling of eggs.
It was convicted on one count of violating the Canada Agricultural Products Act.
Judge Lord of the Provincial Court of Manitoba ordered the company to pay a fine of $5,000 within one month.
The single charge addressed numerous illegal acts committed by the company between January 10, 2005 and January 29th, 2006. During that time, Evergreen Poultry Farms graded eggs that failed to meet the requirements set out in Schedule 1 of the Egg Regulations and then sold those eggs to a Winnipeg grocery store.
Specifically, the company graded eggs as Canada C, which was not conveyed to a registered, processed egg station in accordance with Section 4(c) of Schedule 1 of the Egg Regulations, thereby committing the offense contrary to Section 33(1)(a) of the Canada Agricultural Products Act.
The City of Winnipeg Environmental Services Division assisted in the investigation.
The CFIA is responsible for enforcing a variety of federal legislation, including the Canada Agricultural Products Act and its regulations. The Canada Agricultural Products Act regulates, among other things, the marketing of agricultural products in import, export and interprovincial trade.