Wei Kee Company fined $6,000 for offences Under the Meat Inspection Act

March 18, 2010, Montreal, Quebec - On June 22, 2009, at the Gatineau courthouse, Wei Kee Company, located in Scarborough, Ontario, pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the Meat Inspection Act.

The Court of Quebec ordered the company to pay a fine of $3,000 for each charge.

The offences occurred on November 7, 2006. The first involved packaging chicken meat intended for sale using the federal legend without regulatory authorization, which contravenes paragraph 5(a) of the Meat Inspection Act. The second offence consisted of sending or conveying chicken meat from one province to another that was not prepared or stored in a registered establishment, thereby contravening paragraph 8(a) of the Act.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is responsible for enforcing a variety of federal statutes, including the Meat Inspection Act and Regulations. The Meat Inspection Act governs the import and export of and interprovincial trade in meat products, the registration of establishments, and the inspection of animals and meat products in registered establishments, and sets the standards for those establishments and for the animals slaughtered and the meat products prepared in those establishments.

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