Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
May 3, 2024
Cereals Canada applauds the CFIA’s latest livestock feed guidance, which helps to clarify Canada’s requirements for gene-edited crops. The guidance is pivotal in ensuring access to tools such as the latest seed varieties, especially for cereal researchers and breeders involved in product development, which can help address challenges to crop production and livestock health.
“Cereals Canada views the final piece of updated Canadian policy clarifying the regulatory pathway for gene edited plants, as a positive advancement in plant breeding innovation,” says Krista Zuzak, Director, Crop Protection and Production at Cereals Canada. “The finalized CFIA guidance on livestock feed will support research and development of new varieties that use gene editing to enhance traits such as drought, pest and disease resistance, and input use efficiency among others.”
The cereals sector recognizes that plant breeding innovation, including technology used to produce livestock feed ingredients, can help the industry address crop production challenges, aid in sustainability efforts, and address food security concerns. However, achieving these benefits will require global regulatory transparency, certainty, and consistency. Regulatory misalignments and unclear requirements can lead to an uncertain trading environment, erosion of trust in science and risk-based processes, and competitive disadvantages.
Cereals Canada firmly believes that Canada’s science and evidence-based regulatory system helps the cereals sector maintain a reputation for producing safe, sustainable, and high-quality wheat, barley, and oats.
“When speaking with customers around the world, we rely on the strong reputation of Canada’s science-based regulatory systems, the safety of the grains produced in Canada, and the safety of our plant breeding technologies,” says Zuzak. “The future of this reputation relies on guidance such as this one currently being amended and released.”
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