A shipment of pigs’ feet to China from Canada was flagged for containing ractopamine. Ractopamine is a banned growth drug by China and may impact future exports by Canada. China views the tainted shipment as a “systemic failure” of Canada’s program that certifies pork sent to China is free of ractopamine, and the situation “could affect future pork exports,” as reported by Reuters. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has temporarily stopped signing certificates that allow the meatpacker in question to export to China and has asked for any other shipments that may be in transit to be sent back to Canada. China, the world’s biggest pork consumer, is one of Canada’s biggest pork markets, importing 314,000 metric tons of pork last year. The last time China detected ractopamine in a Canadian pork shipment, in 2015, it removed several Canadian processing plants from its list of eligible exporters to China.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.