The province has offered its “understanding” about the prospect of Thunder Bay-area farmers being without an abattoir for processing livestock, but won’t say if it would step in and provide the service should it ever become unavailable.
“We understand the concern of local producers with respect to the availability of (meat) processing capacity,” a Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs spokeswoman said Friday.
Concerns of possibly not having an abattoir available for area farmers are connected to a looming sale of Murillo’s Thunder Bay Meat Processing operation.
The current owners have operated the Oliver Road business for nearly 40 years. They told The Chronicle-Journal this week they’d like to retire, but have yet to find a buyer for the modern facility, even though it’s been on the market for a couple of years. No decisions have been made.
The province licenses about 120 abattoirs across Ontario but doesn’t operate them.
In its response on Friday, the ministry said it’s “happy to provide information to support anyone interested in purchasing (the Murillo operation) or any other livestock processing plant, including how to obtain a provincial licence.”
“The ministry continues to work with and assist food processing plants, including abattoirs, by offering funding programs that can help modernize and boost processing capacity,” the spokeswoman said.
When asked specifically about the Murillo situation, and the prospect of not having an abattoir close to Thunder Bay, she said: “We won’t be providing any further comment.”
The office of Conservative MPP Kevin Holland, whose Thunder Bay-Atikokan riding includes Murillo, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
The closest abattoir to Thunder Bay is located just west of Dryden. It’s overseen by a group of farmers who use it.
Some Thunder Bay-area beef farmers go there, but doing so requires two trips because meat has to hang for two weeks after it’s been butchered.
Lisa Koshel, a member of the Dryden-area abattoir’s board of directors, said extra travel costs that farmers incur often get passed on to consumers.
Koshel said it wouldn’t make sense to not have an abattoir to serve the Thunder Bay market.
Farmers can get information about provincial programs by calling the Agricultural Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300, or by emailing ag.info.omafra@ontario.ca.
