News Release Archive
AGRICULTURE/MARKETING--MEAT INSPECTION ----------------------------------------------------------------- The Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture and Marketing today issued a statement to provide additional information surrounding the issue of meat inspection in the province. Nova Scotia currently has a voluntary meat inspection program. There are 15 abattoirs and 20 free standing processing plants enrolled in this program. The majority of meat sold in Nova Scotia is inspected either through the plants enrolled in the voluntary program or from federally inspected plants. Food chain stores, the largest retailers of meat in the province, have a policy of selling only inspected meat. All meat imported into Nova Scotia is inspected under the federal inspection program. Of meat consumed in Nova Scotia, approximately 91 percent of beef, 99 percent of poultry, 99.6 percent of hogs and over 90 percent of lamb is inspected. Of the small portion remaining that is uninspected, a significant percentage of this meat is sold direct to the consumer as freezer meat; and in such cases, the consumer knows the source and the reputation of the producer to judge the quality of the product they are buying. The Department of Agriculture and Marketing is currently looking at the benefit and costs of introducing mandatory meat inspection into the province. -30- Contact: George Smith 902-893-6363 trp Oct. 18, 1995