Canada - Maple Leaf Foods CEO calls for Canadian DNA meat tracing standard

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. has adopted a method for tracking its pork products with DNA, a safety system that should be adopted by the Canadian meat industry, chief executive Michael McCain said Monday. The Canadian food and meat processing industry can differentiate itself from its largest competitors in the United States by putting the focus on producing safe meat, at a time when consumers worldwide are worried about food safety, McCain said in an interview. Toronto-based Maple Leaf Foods began earlier this year a DNA traceability system for pork, allowing the company to trace a piece of pork from the grocery store shelf back to the live animal production chain. The first pork products to be made under the DNA tracing system will start coming out of a Maple Leaf Foods meat packing plant in Lethbridge, Alta., in December, destined mainly for Japan. The process began by registering all the sows from hog producer suppliers to Maple Leaf in the Lethbridge area of southern Alberta. The DNA system is accurate, relatively free of human error, and can be detected in cooked, processed or fresh meat right to the consumer's home, McCain said before a speech to the Canadian Club. He said the DNA tracing system could become a standard similar to the UPC bar code that became the platform for data bases in distribution. Maple Leaf Foods (TSX:MFI) received some aid from the Alberta and federal governments to implement the DNA system. The CEO said Canada has a good international reputation for safe food, despite the mad cow scare that has still closed the U.S. border to Canadian cattle, and the avian flu outbreak.