EDMONTON - Western farmers say the U.S. is stopping an increasing number of canola meal shipments from Canadian plants at the border over concerns about salmonella bacteria.
And they are calling on the federal government to help sort out the situation before the backlog affects production and the price of the lucrative crop, which is used in animal feed.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says import alerts have been slapped on canola meal plants operated by Bunge Canada in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario; Cargill in Saskatchewan and Viterra in Manitoba.
The alerts allow inspectors to detain the shipments because they appear to contain a poisonous substance that could be harmful.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials say it is up to individual companies to satisfy U.S. import rules.
The CFIA says it has its own inspection program that requires facilities that sell feed in Canada to come up with a "corrective" plan if salmonella is found, but the agency won't say if that is happening at the plants identified by the USFDA.
