HUMBOLDT — A meat packing food processing company with an office in Humboldt has exports to China from one of its plants suspended.
Olymel is the owner of one of two Canadian pork processing facilities that received an export suspension, according to a story from the Canadian Press. All other pork processing facilities are still able to export to China.
The federal agriculture department was formally informed of the suspension on May 1.
Olymel told the Humboldt Journal it is assessing the situation. Richard Vigneault, the company’s spokesperson, said May 2 he wasn’t in a position to comment on how, if in any way, the suspension would affect Humboldt operations.
“Today, the only thing I can say is to confirm that our plant in Red Deer,” he said, “has been placed under temporary suspension from exporting to China.”
The Canadian Pork Council told the Canadian Press the suspensions appear to stem from a labelling problem.
"From our understanding what the plants are looking into, it is an exterior labelling problem that they're going to be fixing," said council spokesman Gary Stordy.
Marie-Claude Bibeau, the federal agriculture minister, told the Canadian Press the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is looking into the situation and working with the Chinese importers and Chinese authorities to lift the suspension as soon as possible.
Relations between Canada and China have been tense since Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver in December on a US warrant. China has blocked exports from Canada's two largest canola exporters, citing concerns about quality.
