The Canadian Meat Council is

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's national

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. An industry tra ...

for the federally inspected meat packers and processors. It is an

industry trade group A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association partici ...

associated with the

meat packing industry The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally no ...

. Federally inspected plants account for over 90% of all the meat processed in Canada. As a key component of Canada's

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

sector, the

meat industry The meat industry are the people and companies engaged in modern industrialized livestock agriculture for the production, packing, preservation and marketing of meat (in contrast to dairy products, wool, etc.). In economics, the meat industry is ...

is the largest contributor to Canada's

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industr ...

industry, employing almost 70,000 Canadians and representing 12% of Canada's agri-food exports. It is also one of Canada's leading

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

sectors with annual sales of over $24 billion.

History

A group of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

meat packers met in Toronto in August, 1919 to decide if an association is needed to represent the industry which underwent tremendous growth during and after World War I. With overwhelming support for the idea, Samuel E. "Sam" Todd was appointed to head the Council (then called as "The Industrial and Development Council of Canadian Meat Packers") on September 1, 1919. J. S. McLean was elected as the first president of the Council. E. B. Roberts, a journalist by profession was hired by beginning of 1920 to take care of the Councils media and publicity relations. The first office of the organization was located at 186 King St. W., Toronto. Membership included Harris Abattoir Ltd., William Davies Co. Ltd., Swift Canadian Co. Ltd., Gunns Ltd., Canadian Packing Co Ltd., Puddys Ltd., F. W. Fearman Co., Ingersoll Packaging Co. Ltd., Whyte Packing Co. Ltd., Gallagher-Holman and Lafrance Co. Ltd., Gordon-Ironside & Fares Packers Ltd., Wilson Canadian Co. Ltd., and

Armour and Company Armour & Company was an American company and was one of the five leading firms in the meat packing industry. It was founded in Chicago, in 1867, by the Armour brothers led by Philip Danforth Armour. By 1880, the company had become Chicago's mo ...

Meat Packers Council of Canada

The Industrial and Development Council of Canadian Meat Packers was considered a lengthy name by many members and an alternate name "Meat Packers Council of Canada" was proposed. It was not until Sam Todd retired in 1952 that the name was officially changed to Meat Packers Council of Canada. The council was "incorporated" as an association in 1961 after serving as a voluntary, unincorporated association for nearly 40 years.

Canadian Meat Council

In 1980, the association changed its name to the Canadian Meat Council (Conseil des Viandes du Canada) during the second Presidence of ALLAN K. BESWICK.

COVID-19 and Centennial year

During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, which happened during the centennial year of the Council, more than 50 "regular members" had paid their dues, including a lamb trade group from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

as well as

Cargill Cargill, Incorporated, is a privately held American global food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in ter ...

, JBS Foods International and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. The Executive Members of the Council at the time were: *David Colwell (Chair) JBS Foods Canada *Troy Warren (Past Chair)

Sure Good Foods SuRe (The Standard for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure) is a global voluntary standard which integrates key criteria of sustainability and resilience into infrastructure development and upgrade. It has been developed by the Swiss Global In ...

*Iain Stewart (Vice-Chair)

Maple Leaf Foods Maple Leaf Foods Inc. is a Canadian consumer packaged meats company. Its head office is in Mississauga, Ontario. History Maple Leaf Foods is the result of the 1991 merger between Canada Packers and Maple Leaf Mills. Canada Packers was f ...

*Matt Gibney (Secretary) Cargill Foods Limited *David Flomen (Treasurer) Viscofan Canada

Publications

*Two booklets, Canadian Livestock Future and Better Livestock - The Nation's Welfare were published in the early 1920s. *A monthly series called " A letter on Canadian Livestock Products" was published since 1921. *Three editions of Food Service Meat Manual were published so far. The Third Edition is available currently from the Council. *A series of position papers on issues facing the Canadian Meat Industry are available only for the members of the Council. *Proceedings of the Technical Symposium of the Canadian Meat Science Association.

Events

Annual Meetings are held every year since 1919. The meetings are one of the largest gathering of the Canadian Meat Industry's decision makers. Symposium and workshops on technical areas are held on need basis.

References

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Bibliography

*MacLachlan, Ian. ''Kill and Chill: Restructuring Canada's Beef Commodity Chain'' (2001) *Rennie, James ed. ''The Growth and Development of Canada's Meat Packing Industry'' (1969) (Documentary) *MacLachlan, Ian. ''Meat-Processing Industry''. istorica The Canadian Encyclopedia *''The Meat Packers Council of Canada: A History of Dynamic Leadership''. (Source: Unknown)

External links

Canadian Meat Council WebsiteCanadian Meat Science AssociationAmerican Meat Institute
Food industry trade groups Trade associations based in Canada Meat processing in Canada Agricultural organizations based in Canada Meat industry organizations