Canada-Investigation into alleged contaminated poultry feed.

CANADA-CFIA LAUNCHES FEED INVESTIGATION FOLLOWING DISPOSAL OF POTENTIALLY CONTAMINATED POULTRY FEED:

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has launched an investigation into potentially contaminated feed products from a rendering facility in Alberta. According to CFIA, the vast majority of the potentially contaminated feed has been identified, contained and will be disposed of, but indicated that a limited amount of poultry feed may have been inadvertently contaminated with specified risk material (SRM) in March 2009. The rendering company and the CFIA are reportedly working to identify and dispose of all potentially contaminated feed. The federal agency said the feed, potentially contaminated with SRM, poses no health risk to poultry and does not affect the safety of Canadian poultry meat and eggs. COMMENT: SRM is the group of cattle tissues that, in infected cattle, are known to harbor the agent that causes bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). In Canada, these potentially infective materials are removed from all cattle slaughtered for human consumption and are prohibited from use in animal feed, pet food and fertilizer.