Health Canada now says
small flock owners who sell eggs direct from their farms will be exempt from
its new guidelines that come into effect in December.
However, there remains a
lot of room for confusion because the actual guidelines cover all table eggs
which are defined in Section 2.11 as:
"A shell egg
offered for sale to consumers (including retail environments, restaurants,
bakeries, and other foodservice and institutional settings) for the purposes of
consumption."
Glenn Black of Providence
Bay, Manitoulin Island, wrote to Health Canada seeking clarification because he
believes the guidelines could prevent small flock owners from selling any eggs because the guidelines require all "table eggs" to be graded in a premises that meets HACCP standards and the egg-marketing-board Start Clean, Stay Clean protocols.
Despite the definition
cited above, Health Canada wrote Black that “eggs that are offered for sale at farm gates are
excluded from the scope of the document.
“Please be
advised that the guidance document does not recommend a ban on farm gate egg
sales.
“Therefore,
the issues that you raised related to farm gate sales of eggs are not expected
to occur."
On the other hand, Health Canada says that eggs from small
flocks do pose a risk to public health.
It notes that there were two outbreaks of Salmonella
enteriditis, one in 2010, the other in 2012, involved “table eggs originating
from sources outside the regulated sector,” meaning from producers who are not
marketing-board members.
In the letter to Black, Health Canada says “the weight of scientific evidence supports that
any laying flock, regardless of size, may put consumers at risk by supplying eggs
for the table market from a flock infected with S. Enteritidis, and that
eggs that are not stored or handled in a way that minimizes the
S. Enteritidis hazard, may put consumers at risk.”
So the
question remains: will Health Canada exempt small flock owners from its
guidelines, or will they be judged guilty of violating the guidelines if there’s
an outbreak of S. enteriditis?
