After several years of intensive lobbying efforts the South Cariboo will, at last, see a local meat abattoir for provincially-inspected slaughter back in service.
Agriculture Minister Norm Letnick announced the good news in a visit to 100 Mile House on Feb. 22, and attributed it to the hard work and lobbying efforts of Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett.
The abattoir unit will return capacity for licensed slaughter of beef, lamb, pork and goat, and Letnick says depending on the operator, can facilitate the processing of up to eight cattle a day.
While the abattoir is a mobile unit, it will be permanently installed at a single local facility, he said, providing specific criteria is met.
Barnett said the unit is already constructed and ready to go, and she'll ensure it gets installed before this May's election.
She passed on much of the credit to Christine Jordaan and Diane Wood, who have also lobbied extensively to promote the need, and have been key in various proposals put forward over the past several years.
Letnick explained it is part of a $5.6-million program the province is unrolling to replace provincially-licensed abattoir inspections currently performed under contract by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, to be fully implemented by Jan. 1, 2014.
Read the full story and learn more about other meat inspection and licensing changes in the Feb. 27 edition of the 100 Mile House Free Press.