Canada's Chicken Farmers Welcome Government Work on Illegal Imports

Canada's chicken farmers operate under the country's supply management system, which limits domestic production and imports to ensure level prices for farmers.  However, some importers are getting around the rules by importing broiler chicken meat labelled as spent fowl meat (meat producing from old laying hens). Chicken coming into Canada is subject to import controls, and spent fowl is not – there is no limit on how much can be imported.  The Duties Relief Program enables qualified companies to import goods without paying duties, as long as they later export the goods. Chicken Farmers of Canada says these border rules do not provide adequate safeguards to address the potential for diversion into the domestic market that is presented when chicken is imported into Canada for further processing and subsequent re-export.