As Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau left Wednesday for the G20 Summit in Japan, China fired another salvo in deteriorating relations between the two countries by stopping all meat shipments from Canada.
The official reason is that inspectors found residue of a feed additive in pork products – the additive ractopamine is permitted for certain uses in Canada but it is banned in China.
HEALTH CERTIFICATES
As well, China claimed that the meat came with forged safety certificates. “The subsequent investigation revealed that the official veterinary health certificates attached to the batch of pork exported to China were counterfeit and the number of those forgery certificates was up to 188,” the Chinese Embassy in Canada said in a statement, Tuesday.
Agricultural Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said that Canadian inspectors “identified an issue involving inauthentic export certificates” and law authorities were investigating. But she called it a “technical issue.”
“The Canadian food system is one of the best in the world and we are confident in the safety of Canadian products and Canadian exports,” Bibeau said.