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The production and trade of dairy and poultry products in Canada are controlled by a system of supply management (SM). Output is regulated with production quotas, and imports are restricted through a system of tariff-rate quotas. Many of Canada's trading partners are seeking better access to Canadian dairy and poultry markets in negotiations over proposed preferential trade agreements. These pressures have renewed debate about the future of SM in Canada. We investigate one criticism of SM: that high prices for dairy and poultry products impose regressive distributional effects on Canadian consumers. We apply the Exact Affine Stone Index demand model to data from the Canadian Food Expenditure Survey to estimate consumer responses to price changes for dairy and poultry products. Parameters from the demand model are used to generate welfare comparisons between the current SM regime and a counterfactual liberalized market. Canada's SM policies are highly regressive, imposing a burden of approximately 2.3 percent ($339) of income per year on the poorest households, compared to 0.5 percent ($554) for the richest households. The burden is larger for households with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the period from 1985 to 1999, about 600 samples of total diet foods from Canadian cites were analysed for dioxins, furans and non-ortho-PCBs. Toxic equivalent (TEQ) concentrations on a lipid basis were found to be the highest in dairy and beef products followed by poultry and pork. These levels decreased over the 15-year period of sampling, particularly those for fluid milk, less so for poultry and pork and little or no change for beef. Calculation of the human daily intake for the years 1985–1988 showed values a little less than 1 pg of TEQ2005polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin/polychlorinated dibenzofuran per kg body weight, falling progressively to less than 0.5 pg of TEQ in 1999. These estimates are lower than the 2.3 pg of TEQ currently recommended by the WHO. The main categories of foods contributing to the TEQ were animal meats and dairy products, with lesser amounts from fish and other foods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A variety of egg-containing, soy-based, fish, shrimp and vegetable products sold in Canada were analysed for melamine (MEL) using a sensitive solid-phase extraction LC-MS/MS analytical method. MEL was detected above the method quantification limit of 0.004 mg/kg in 98 of the 378 samples analysed. Concentrations in the various food product groups ranged 0.00507-0.247 mg/kg (egg-containing items), 0.00408-0.0479 mg/kg (soy-based meat substitutes), 0.00409-1.10 mg/kg (fish and shrimp products), and 0.00464-0.688 mg/kg (vegetable products). MEL was detected less frequently in egg- and soy-containing products. The presence of MEL in most of the Canadian Total Diet Study shrimp composites collected after 2001 suggested the residues in shrimp were caused by a relatively recent exposure to MEL. All concentrations of MEL reported were lower than the 2.5 mg/kg interim standard established for MEL in items containing milk and milk-derived ingredients and the respective maximum residue limits for cyromazine and its metabolite, melamine, in vegetables set by the Canadian Government (2009; http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/chem-chim/melamine/qa-melamine-qr-eng.php#8). The consumption of foods containing these low levels of MEL does not constitute a health risk for consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 800 meat and poultry products were purchased from the retail marketplace in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The products consisted of raw ground beef, chicken legs, pork chops, and ready-to-eat fermented sausage, roast beef, processed turkey breast, chicken wieners, and beef wieners. The samples were analyzed to determine the prevalence of Shiga toxin- producing Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter spp., and Listeria monocytogenes. Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O22: H8 was found in one raw ground beef sample. Salmonella and Campylobacter were found in 30 and 62% of raw chicken legs, respectively. L. monocytogenes was found in 52% of raw ground beef, 34% of raw chicken legs, 24% of raw pork chops, 4% of fermented sausages, 3% of processed turkey breast, 5% of beef wieners, and 3% of chicken wieners. The occurrence of pathogens in this study is similar to that in retail products in many other international locales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]