Dear Producer:

This letter was motivated by industry reaction to our Presentation to the Egg Farmers of Ontario Board of Directors, June 8th/06. Our presentation was also attended by Mr. Laurent Souligny, General Manager of CEMA. (Copies of this presentation may be requested by contacting admin@eggsactrace.com )

Our presentation pointed out very clearly, the current crisis in the Supply Management System, more particularly, the substantial increase in the unnecessary importation of over quota eggs from the U.S.A. by profit hungry participants in the Canadian Supply Management system and others.

These imports, in turn, are causing massive surplus losses to CEMA totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars per month. These losses are ultimately funded by you, the Producer by way of levy increases. The losses are so substantial that the current value of quota is in jeopardy along with the potential of a significant loss in per bird profit and ultimately the livelihoods of the Producers themselves.

Since our Presentation, we have been made aware of a letter written by a Grader on June 21st/06, that has been forwarded to Producers. It gratifyingly takes up our cause presented to the EFO June 8th/06. This letter, among other things states, “Despite rumors to the contrary, they (this particular Grader) are not and will not, import tariff paid eggs and that they believe however, that other Graders in Ontario and Quebec are doing so.” They go on to suggest that they are willing to forego the privacy rights of their organization to allow the government to disclose who is importing tariff paid eggs and ask that other Graders do the same.

We fully support this idea. In fact, we would like to suggest that this practice not only start immediately, but be retro-active for 2-years to expose those who have been the guilty parties over the past 24 months. We are of course interested in knowing those who may have run for cover and stopped importing since our June 8th/06 Presentation, but more importantly, we are extremely interested in identifying those who participated in this practice prior to our exposing the crisis June 8th/06. This will tell the real story.

We would also like to suggest that the investigation be broadened to include eggs imported over the past 2 years by Breakers that may have made their way to the table market, eggs that may have been imported by Distributors on behalf of Graders with shared profit while disguising the importer, eggs imported by Retailers in conjunction with Graders for shared profit, and Hatching Eggs that may be making their way to the table market. We are also interested in expanding the investigation to include the possibility that eggs are being placed in long-term cooling stations by graders to avoid inspection and to create a false sense of shortage so that the grader can then apply for supplementary permits, importing eggs at zero-tariff, ultimately adding to the surplus egg crisis.

To further understand the seriousness of the crisis and to read the suggested solutions that were presented to the EFO Board of Directors June 8th/06, please request your copy of the presentation CD-Rom by email admin@eggsactrace.com. It will become very clear that Traceability is the answer!

We welcome your comments.

Best Regards


The EggsacTrace Team & Verified Eggs Canada