15.09.2014

Last year, Canada imported more than 97 million kg of chicken meat that was declared as being from spent fowl (spent fowl are old laying hens: a by-product of egg and hatching egg production)- which is 110 per cent of the United States’ entire annual spent fowl production. Based on production and trade statistics, Canada is currently importing more spent fowl breast meat than is actually produced in the entire U.S.
Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, spent fowl can come into Canada duty free. American processors mislabelling chicken as spent fowl meat stand to gain millions of dollars by avoiding import controls. Mislabelling chicken as spent fowl has allowed American chicken processors to avoid more than $60 million in yearly tariffs, say Canadian chicken producers. American manufacturers of products such as chicken burgers or nuggets are also blending spent fowl meat with broiler meat to keep their costs down.