Canada's chicken farmers operate under the country's supply management system, which limits domestic production and imports to ensure level prices for farmers.

However, some importers are getting around the rules by importing broiler chicken meat labelled as spent fowl meat (meat producing from old laying hens). Chicken coming into Canada is subject to import controls, and spent fowl is not – there is no limit on how much can be imported.

In 2012, Chicken Farmers of Canada says the country imported more spent fowl breast meat than was actually produced in the entire US, which is of course impossible.

As well as this, the consultation will be looking into concerns related to the Duties Relief Programme. The Duties Relief Program enables qualified companies to import goods without paying duties, as long as they later export the goods.

Chicken Farmers of Canada says these border rules do not provide adequate safeguards to address the potential for diversion into the domestic market that is presented when chicken is imported into Canada for further processing and subsequent re-export.

“Our farmers and processors have been afflicted by leakages in the market that have been occurring for many years now, meaning they face uncertainty in their own production, and consumers face uncertainty in the safety of their food,” says Dave Janzen, Chair of Chicken Farmers of Canada. “We are hopeful that a meaningful consultation process will result in changes benefitting the chicken sector in Canada, and all Canadians."