Courts in June fined violators of federal laws administrated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) a total of $141,400. The largest fine went to a Canadian company that was illegally importing meat to the United States.
Courts across Canada were involved in handing down punishments that went mostly to corporations, including then Cargill Grain Limited, an industry giant.
Those fined and the amounts included:
— Ontario Corporation #1325438 (d.b.a. Zadi Foods Inc.), $100,000
— Chong Lee Market, Vancouver, $2,500.
— Cargill, $1,000 plus a $400 victim surcharge.
— City Fresh Market, Richmond, BC, $2,500.
— North Kee Trading Company, Ontario, $10,000
— Nieuwland Feed & Supply Limited, Ontario, $8,000
— Les Distributiuons J.M. Bernatchez Inc., Grand Riviere, Quebec, $3,000
— Nucci’s Bake-a-Deli, Thunder Bay, Ontario, $1,000
— Rodney Checkowski, Brandon, Manitoba, $4,000
— Nick Synchyshyn, Brandon, Manitoba, $9,000
Zadi Foods Ltd., which also does business as Casa Italia, pleaded guilty to one count of violation of the Meat Inspection Regulations and one count of violation of the Meat Inspection Act, and netted the largest fine for readmitting a meat product to its establishment that had been prepared elsewhere and then exported it to the United States.
Nick Synchyshyn was convicted on three counts of violating quarantine-related provisions of Canada’s Health of Animals Act. In November 2009, it was found he transported and sold 42 beef calves that were under quarantine on his premises. According to the CFIA, Synchyshyn put other cattle at risk by putting his quarantined calves in contact with the other animals. Manitoba Provincial Court Judge Shauna Hewitt-Micta imposed the fine and gave Synchyshyn nine months to pay it.
Also convicted in Manitoba Provincial Court was Rodney Checkowski, who was found guilty for offenses related to an incident in which CFIA inspectors trying to do testing for tuberculosis were blocked from the defendant’s premises.
The offenses netted Checkowski a $4,000 fine, including $1,500 he has not yet paid from an 2010 conviction under the Health of Animals Act.
The Nucci’s Bake-a-Deli fine was imposed following a guilty plea for one count of violation of the Consumer Packing and Labeling Act, and one count of violation of the Food and Drug Regulations. The company had failed to label certain meat products and list weights on the package.
The North Kee Trading company pleaded guilty to one court of transporting meat from its Ontario establishments, which were not federally inspected, to two retail outets in Alberta. That is a violation of Canada’s Meat Inspection Act.
Nieuwland Feed was fined because it violated two counts of Canada’s Foods Regulations. It failed to label and register manufactured livestock feed.
Giant Cargill pleaded guilty to violating one count of the Feeds Regulations. CFIA described it as a “production error” that resulted in the addition of Tylosin Phosphate to dairy rationed feeds. Tylosin Phosphate is not approved for use in dairy ration feeds in Canada.
City Fresh Market pleaded guilty to one count of violating Canada’s Food and Drug Act. The market admitted it sold canned dace adulterated with Enrofloxacin, a veterinary drug not allowed in aquacultured fish.
Chong Lee Market also pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Food and Drug Act for the same offense as City Fresh Market. Both companies received the same fine from different British Columbia Provincial Court judges.
Les Distributions J.M. Bernatchez Inc. pleaded guilty to one count of violating Canada’s Fish Inspection Act for shipping mussels to New Brunswick from Quebec that had not been processed and stored in a federal establishment.