News & Events
Retail Meat Cutting Course Update by Larry Erber, Advisory Committee Member.
Further to the Resolution and motion made at the March 13th, 2011 Annual Meeting regarding the push to have government reinstate the Retail Meat Cutting Course at SIAST in Saskatoon we have the following update.
The committee meets every 2 weeks and had a good meeting with Karen Fredette, Field Supervisor for the Sask Apprenticeship & Trade Association. Karen travels around and will be promoting the meat cutting trade and also push for apprenticeship and the program.
Cam Nordon, Program Developer for SIAST Service Division Prince Albert, came to Saskatoon and met with the committee to restructure the program. Changes were made by deleting unproductive time in the course and adding more time to productive parts of the course.
On October 5th Larry will be attending a full day Apprenticeship & Trade meeting in Saskatoon. In the morning there will be a preliminary meeting with the Head of the Apprenticeship trade. In the afternoon each trade will break into groups to discuss what the problems are and what can be done for the trade as far as the Journeyman and endorsement status.
The end of August the advisory Committee met and developed a business plan and on Sept 19th the business plan was completed and on Nov 7th the business plan was presented to the Dean outlining a cost recovery plan. The SMPA Board suggested to run three short courses consisting of one week each, sausage making, curing & pork cutting, and custom & retail cutting. The cost of each course would be $430.00.
The Community Service Extension Department will advertise the short courses in the calendar, and if there are enough applicants the 1 or 2 week short course will be carried out. This is not tied in with the government and has no funding.
The core program course is suspended for two years although the advisory committee is pushing to resume the Retail Meat Cutting course in Sept 2012. Currently there are 8 eight applicants for the Sept 2012 Core program which is a combination of government funding and cost recovery.
The Annual Meeting will be held on March 10, 2011 time 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We will have a pre-annual meeting workshop of “Utilizing Inedible Material for Profits To Combat Rendering Costs” at the Air Force Lynx Squadron on Avenue C North in Saskatoon.
Bylaws
The Board is in the process of developing bylaws for the Association. Currently the Association has no bylaws and requests have been made for a copy by Associate Members so they can be reimbursed for sponsorship. The bylaws will be presented at the Annual Meeting for the membership’s approval.
CFIA news
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is discontinuing its contractual arrangement by which meat inspection services are provided to Saskatchewan’s provincially regulated facilities effective January 1, 2014. This decision was made by the Federal government. No provincial decisions on the nature of the transition and the post January 1, 2014 environment have been made at this point.
The Board will continue to update you as more information becomes available.
WELCOME TO THE ASSOCIATION (or new members) whichever sounds better. Can dress it up if you like.
Jimmy D’s Meat Shop
Jimmy Diedrich
Mendham, Sask.
Ranchhouse Meat Company Inc. owned and operated by Vince Stevenson and Joey Misu in Shaunavon, SK. This is a brand new facility that will be opening in the late fall of 2011. Wishing you success in your new endeavor .
Big Way Foods
Eric Dueck
Hague, Sk
Jerky Boys Meats
Trevor Labbee and Jason Browatzke
Lumsden, Sk