Canadian New Product Approval Process Affords Pork Producers in Competing Countries an Advantage

The General Manager of Manitoba Pork says Canada’s own approval process for new products is giving pork producers in other countries an advantage in the global market

An article circulated through Manitoba community newspapers and posted to the Manitoba Pork web site looks at “Regulatory Competitiveness.”

 

Cam Dahl, the General Manager of Manitoba Pork, says if for example we see a new product that is able to improve gut health and our American competitors have access to it but we don’t because of the slow pace of the Canadian regulatory approval process, then they have an advantage.

 

 “It is an area that we can focus on and improve and the best way to start on this is to look at the processes in our trading partners that have a robust regulatory agency”

 

“There are examples of products that the U.S. has that the companies don’t even apply for in Canada because of the cost and the time our regulatory system needs to get through the processes.

“So, it is an area that we can focus on and improve and the best way to start on this is to look at the processes in our trading partners that have a robust regulatory agency.

“If a company, a pharmaceutical company or an animal nutritional company has gone through the work and the time and the expense required to produce a data package for the FDA in the U.S., there’s no reason why Health Canada can’t just use that same data package for our approval process.

“The company shouldn’t have to go through that same time and expense.

“If we could get that harmonization, it would reduce the time it takes to get new products, it would allow Canadian farmers to have access to new innovation and it would reduce the cost of our system and so everybody would win.

“Further it would also reduce the potential for trade barriers. So, this is something that we really do need to focus on as a country and from a policy perspective.”

 

Dahl says, when farmers in the U.S. or Brazil or other countries, have access to innovations that we don’t, they can produce pigs at a lower cost and that makes us less competitive.