Canada resumes receiving pork from Smithfield Foods

Mar 17, 2025
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content, Farms.com

The temporary suspension was related to offal shipments

Canada is once again accepting pork shipments from Smithfield Foods’ processing plant in Tar Heel, N.C.

Canada suspended imports last week “following an issue with a limited number of certain offal shipments,” Smithfield said in a March 14 statement. “We are grateful to the USDA and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) for a quick resolution of this matter.”

Neither the USDA or CFIA provided any clarification online about what actually caused the suspension.

But the USDA identified that under Canadian policy, “three noncompliance issues within six months” results in a suspension, Reuters reported.

Smithfield’s facility in North Carolina is the world’s largest processing plant.

The plant has the capacity to process about 32,000 hogs each day.

The CFIA also has a new minister responsible for its work.

As the newly appointed minister of health, Kamal Khera assumes responsibility for the CFIA.

She served as the parliamentary secretary to the minister of health from 2015 to 2017.

From 2021 to 2023 the MP for Brampton West was the minister of seniors, and from 2023 to 2025 was the minister of diversity, inclusion and persons with disabilities.

Video: New Solution Powers Efficient Pork Growth

Alltech has introduced Olerix, an innovative phytogenic blend created to promote growth and feed efficiency in pigs. Through a proprietary coating process, the bioactive blend of phytogenic compounds used in Olerix is designed to outlast the manufacturing process, ensuring consistent outcomes from feed to finish. The result is a high-impact efficiency solution that provides consistent support for gut health, feed efficiency, immune function and growth performance. Olerix is backed by validated trials conducted under modern pork production conditions.

“As the industry searches for technology to drive profitability forward in a more sustainable manner, we’re thrilled to join that effort with our Olerix technology,” said Mark Hulsebus, general manager for U.S. pork at Alltech. “Our work in this phytogenic space is yielding very encouraging results, and we’re excited to make this new opportunity available to pork producers focused on optimizing feed efficiency and growth rates.”

“Olerix represents the next generation of phytogenic technology — combining feed efficiency, livability and immune support into a practical commercial solution producers can implement today,” said Andy Rash, U.S. monogastric director at Alltech.