Mounties called in to trace origins of mystery meat as Canada halts exports to China

Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said today the RCMP has been called in to investigate the origins of a pork shipment to China that arrived with a fake Canadian export certificate.

Bibeau said the source of the meat and the false certificate remain unknown, and that Canadian and Chinese officials are in close daily contact as they work to find out what happened.

Canada agreed Tuesday to stop issuing export certificates for meat destined for China after Chinese customs inspectors detected residue from a restricted feed additive called ractopamine in a Canadian shipment of pork products.

When Chinese authorities advised Canada on June 14, it raised a red flag for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), which asked to review the export certificate.

Upon examination, CFIA inspectors confirmed the certificate was inauthentic...

This was excerpted from the 26 June 2019 edition of CBC News.