Waterloo Farmer Convicted for Breaking Detention

On April 27, 2023, investigators with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness’ Regulatory Compliance Unit executed a Provincial Offences Act search warrant at Joris Salverda’s farm in Wilmot on an unrelated matter. Investigators found unlabelled meat product and subsequently detained it to determine if it was from an inspected source. Detention involved marking a potentially non-compliant product with a detention tag and placing it in a freezer or cooler to preserve its integrity until it could be determined whether the meat product was compliant. No person shall move or interfere with a thing that has been detained unless authorized or required to do so by an inspector.

Later, officers conducted an inspection at Salverda’s farm and discovered the detained meat product had been removed without authorization.

Following an investigation into the movement of the unlabelled meat product, Salverda was charged with one count of breaking detention of a thing without authorization under the Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001 and its regulations.