through improved control of its energyuse.

J.M. Schneider Inc., a meat productsproducer, will be monitoring electricity,gas, steam and water usage through­out its Kitchener plant. The system willalso monitor and control critical tem­peratures in Schneider's many refriger­ated, processing and storage areas toreduce energy waste through overcool­ing. The system, with almost 200measurement and control points, willcost $510,000.

Dairy Pro(lucts tolie'Addedto Import Control List

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The federal government is takingsteps to add certain dairy products tothe Import Control List in support of theCanadian milk supply management pro­gram, Agriculture Minister John Wise,International Trade Minister Pat Carney,and Minister of State for AgriculturePierre Blais announced recently. Importcontrols already exist on a broad rangeof dairy products. These controls havebeen established in support of actiontaken by Canada under the AgriculturalStabilization Act and the CanadianDairy Commission Act.

To ensure continuing effective ope­ration of the measures taken underthese Acts, the following products willbe added to the Import Control List: icecream, ice cream novelties and icecream mix; ice milk and ice milk mix;yogurt; and liquid forms of skim milk,buttermilk, and blends of theseproducts. Import controls already existwith respect to imports of dry skimmilk, dry buttermilk, and blends ofthese products. While the value of theimported products being added to thelist is relatively small - currently lessthan $1 million per year - futureimports could undermine the Canadiandairy supply management program ifnot restricted.

Article XI of the General Agreementon Tariffs and Trade (GATT) makes pro­vision for countries to restrict certainagricultural product imports in supportof domestic supply management pro­grams, provided that appropriate importlevels are maintained, relative todomestic production. Steps have beentaken to inform Canada's trading part­ners of the changes to the Import Con­trol List that will take effect in the nearfuture. The domestic industry will alsobe provided shortly with details of theadministration of the new controls,including the level of import quotas.

128 / lA

F,bod Res'idue lVIohitoring,\tobe .,ExpanC:ted: , ',., ",' 'o"

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Agriculture Canada is expanding itsmonitoring of residues in food products.Efforts to date have concentratedlargely on meat and meat products. Atpresent federal inspectors analyze morethan 30,000 tissue samples fromslaughtered animals every year, lookingfor everything from pesticide residuesto veterinary drugs. Any animal carcasswith residues above the tolerancesestablished by Health and WelfareCanada is condemned. Virtually all suchcondemnations involve antibiotic andother drug residues. In every case, anAgriculture Canada officer visits thefarm to educate the producer aboutdrug administration and withdrawalprior to slaughter.

Very few problems have beenencountered with pesticide or otherchemical residues in Canadian­produced meat. In general, residuelevels are lower than they were fiveyears ago. Agriculture Canada's FoodInspection Directorate is also responsi­ble for monitoring residues in importedfoods. A good example of the direc­torate's work is the examination ofevery shipment of Australian beef andmutton for pesticide residues followingdiscovery of elevated chemical levels inshipments to the United States.

The Food Inspection Directorate willbe expanding its residue testing intoother commodities, particularly fruitand vegetables. This will be a jointeffort with Health and Welfare Canada.The monitoring will concentrate on pes­ticide residues and will include bothdomestic and imported produce.

This year, about 1,000 samples ofvarious fruits and vegetables will betested for more than 60 pesticides.Agriculture Canada workers test forpesticides registered for use in Canadaas well as those banned here, includ­ing DDT, which is still used in somecountries. Health and Welfare hasestablished tolerances for all suchchemicals. Fruits and vegetables foundto have levels in excess of the tolerancemaximums are destroyed or, in the caseof imported produce, may be returnedto the country of origin.

New FbodAdditive Petitionwith'FDA

Kelco Division of Merck & Co., Inc.,San Diego, California, has filed a food

additive petition with the Food andDrug Administration for approval of gel­lan gum, a new gelling polysaccharide.The petition, requests that the Foodand Drug Administration permit the useof gellan gum in a wide range of foodproducts. The composition, manufac­turing process and several applicationsfor gellan gum are covered by patentsissued to Merck & Co., Inc.

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CRASH - PrOgramme de ',.~Recherche Jndustrielle

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L:ouverture du Centre de recherchesalimentaires de Saint-Hyacinthe estencore toute recente et deja de nom­breuses compagnies du secteur agro­alimentaire ont pu beneticier de ses ins­tallations pour y realiser des projetsinnovateurs. Pres de 70 projets indus­triels ont ete inscrits et parmi ceux-ci25 ont ete completes. Les entreprisesdu secteur alimentaire utilisent avanta­geusement les services du Centre pourdevelopper de nouveaux produits ousolutionner des problemes techniques.Elles peuvent y travailler seules ou encollaboration avec les chercheurs duCentre dans un environnement confi­dentiel convenant a la recherche con­currentielle. En ouvrant ainsi ses portes,le Centre peut aider toute entreprise,petite ou grande, a relever le deti tech­nologique. Plusieurs produits develop­pes au Centre par I'industrie seront surles tablettes des magasins des ce prin­temps. Cela signifie des investisse­ments industriels nouveaux, desemplois et une plus grande utilisationde nos excellents produits agricoles.

NEW PRODUCTSIPROCESSES

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New;, Portion~Pies,s'Prpcess'(ik - .. -. ...: ,x0 .. .. .-¥-£(

Bettcher Industries has developed anew process, called PORTION-FRESHthat enables meat packers, withoutfreezing, to supply beef and pork thatare portion controlled by weight, thick­ness, shape, density and fat cover.

Subprimal is kept at 28 0 for at least24 hours or, a very light crust can beapplied using cryogenics or a blastfreezer, it is then processed in a specialBettcher Press for uniformity, and after-

J. Inst. Can. Sei. Teehnol. Aliment. Vo!. 21, No. 2. 1988