Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Just-opened St. Boniface beef plant eyes exports
Current licence permits sales in Manitoba only
A local company is a step closer to opening the first new beef slaughter and processing plant in a generation that could ship its products outside Manitoba.On Tuesday, Keystone Processors Ltd., owned primarily by Manitoba cattle producers, officially opened a beef cutting facility at the site of the old Maple Leaf pork plant on Marion Street.
The company began shipping cuts of beef to local retailers, such as De Luca's Specialty Foods, Miller's Super Valu Marts and Winnipeg Old Country Sausage Ltd., late last month
Keystone's president Kelly Penner said the provincially inspected plant is currently processing sides of beef from two Manitoba abattoirs.
"It's guaranteed Manitoba beef. It's slaughtered in Manitoba," he said.
Under its current licence, the plant can only ship its products within Manitoba. But Penner said Keystone is continuing to seek funding to build a $25-million federally inspected slaughter facility at the site by 2011 that would allow it to ship specialty products such as hormone-free "natural" beef and kosher beef, to niche markets across Canada as well as offshore
The company is hoping to tap into a new $50-million federal fund, announced in the January budget, designed to spur Canadian livestock slaughter capacity.
"We're limited here in selling within Manitoba. It's critical we get the federal plant built and we have to push hard here right now to get the federal funding," Penner said.
Agriculture Minister Rosann Wowchuk said Tuesday she's spoken twice to her federal counterpart, Gerry Ritz, about national funding.
"He actually recognizes that we're short of slaughter capacity in this province. We've made him aware of that, and we will definitely be working with Keystone to look at how we can get some of that federal money into this pr0vince," Wowchuk said.
The Keystone plant is employing a dozen people initially, and the company expects that number to increase somewhat as the barbecue season looms and staff training continues.
The Manitoba Cattle Enhancement Council, a provincial organization established several years ago to promote Manitoba beef processing, has invested $2.4 million in the Keystone operation.
MCEC executive director Kate Butler said the organization, funded by a $2-a-head checkoff on cattle sold in Manitoba, is also working with two provincial abattoirs -- near Carman and McCreary -- that are seeking to become federally inspected plants.
Penner said the company, which is slowly ramping up production, will probably process 150 head of cattle per week by fall.
larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 11, 2009 B2
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