Changes to Inspection of Imported Meat at Border, Inspection of meat at borders changes

After Christmas meat haulers will find the rules have changed concerning the inspection of their loads, as a few days after New Years the Canadian agency responsible for inspecting all American meat imports will stop giving the normal 72-hour advance warning of their intention to inspect their loads. The loads and drivers to be inspected will be chosen and told when they arrive at the border that the CFIA has decided to inspect their truck and they’ll be required to comply says the Canadian Trucking Alliance.
In addition, importers and brokers of meat need to make sure all selected meat haulers are made aware of the exact location of the inspection facility where they’re expected to arrive for inspection before the hauler arrives at the border. Upon arrival at the border the meat hauler will be told by a CBSA officer of their intention to inspect the load and their papers will be marked with a Report for Meat Inspection stamp. Normally, when the meat hauler arrives at the border the load will have already been stamped by the Border Services Officer, and will have the usual customs stamp. The load will still have to be stamped at the border and because of the inspection changes in some cases there maybe two stamps, the second indicating that the load is expected at the inspection facility and will be inspected to make sure it meets all of the laws and regulations in place for meat transportation.
These changes are going to make life a little more difficult for meat haulers, brokers and importers of meat, but the CBSA is currently thinking about implementing a system that will allow them to let frieght carriers know via RNS that a load has been chosen to be inspected by the CFIA.