Canadian beef packers are asking the federal government for an annual payment of C$26 million ($24.5 million) to cover the cost of disposing of risky cattle parts under stringent health rules aimed at preventing the spread of mad cow disease.
Packers want C$31.70 for each animal over the age of 30 months to cover the cost of disposing of specified risk materials (SRM), such as the brain, spinal cord, tonsils and other parts that are most likely to carry mad cow disease, a Canadian Meat Council official said on Wednesday.
U.S. packers are required only to dispose of the brain and spinal cord, at a much lower cost, and can use more cattle parts in livestock feed, said Brian Read, an executive with beef packer XL Foods and a representative of the Canadian Meat Council.
"(The cost difference) really affects (small packers), and the major packers as well," Read said. "It's just right in your face every morning."
A delegation of packers, farmers and renderers raised the need for aid on Tuesday with the House of Commons agriculture committee, made up of government and opposition legislators. The committee has not made any recommendation as yet.
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