Insights and Stories of Dave Bedard

Oct. 1, 2013 at 4:45 pm CDT

A Prairie processor’s ambition to make high-value food-grade proteins from cold-pressed canola has hit the bottom of the bin. Toronto-based BioExx, at its Saskatoon plant, has tried to commercialize Isolexx, a canola protein isolate, and a hydrolyzed canola protein dubbed Vitalexx, while selling food-grade canola oil and feed-grade canola meal. […]

By Dave Bedard

Sep. 20, 2013 at 4:38 pm CDT

Workers at Ontario’s third-biggest federally inspected beef plant voted Friday in favour of a new contract, ending a three-week lockout for Toronto’s Ryding Regency Meat Packers. The new contract, retroactive to March 2012, runs until March 2016 and covers 130 workers at the Toronto slaughter and processing plant, according to […]

By Dave Bedard

Sep. 11, 2013 at 11:25 am CDT

A U.S. District Court judge has rejected a plea from Canada’s cattle and hog producer groups, in tandem with U.S. livestock producer and packer groups, to halt changes to the U.S. government’s country-of-origin labelling (COOL) rules. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia […]

By Dave Bedard

Jul. 9, 2013 at 3:31 pm CDT

Rather than wait for the World Trade Organization or the U.S. Congress to fix mandatory country-of-origin labelling on meat sold in the U.S., Canada’s cattle and hog producer groups have signed on to take Washington’s rules to court. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) and Canadian Pork Council (CPC) said Tuesday […]

By Dave Bedard

Jul. 2, 2013 at 6:01 pm CDT

Cargill plans to resume harvesting of cattle Wednesday (July 3) at its beef slaughter and processing plant — one of Canada’s largest — at flood-battered High River, Alta. The news comes as local and provincial authorities assess residential and commercial buildings and re-open parts of the community to public access. […]

By Dave Bedard