Toronto’s most infamous slaughterhouse, Ryding Regency Meat Packers, which was ordered to permanently close in 2019 due to e-coli contamination, shockingly reopened yesterday under new management.
The slaughterhouse, now named Tru Harvest Meats, opened its doors once again at the same location to kill 83,200 cows and baby calves per year. Sadly, the majority of the mother cows are pregnant at the time of slaughter.
Activists from Toronto Pig Save and Toronto Cow Save held joint actions yesterday outside the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) offices in Toronto at midday, and held a cow vigil outside Tru Harvest Meats from 1:30pm to 3pm to protest this egregious atrocity and demand the license for Tru Harvest be withdrawn.
“We need to stop reopening this or any other slaughterhouse in Toronto. The previous slaughterhouse was shut down for E-Coli contaminated cow flesh and for lying to the Canadian food inspectors with false or misleading test results,” Anita Krajnc, Founder of Toronto Pig Save told WAN.
“This new Tru Harvest Meats slaughterhouse, like its predecessor, is killing mainly pregnant dairy cows and baby calves. Dairy is also killing the climate and harming people’s health. The Canadian government’s new Food Guide took dairy off the menu, so it should be living up to expectations and not issuing new federal slaughterhouse licences,” said Krajnc.
“Slaughterhouses across Canada have been the site of many of the country’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks, and it’s indefensible that the provincial and federal governments would be allowing this business to re-open,” said Jenny McQueen, an activist with Toronto Pig Save.
“Dairy is a leading cause of environmental degradation, as well as being directly linked to negative health outcomes. We’re calling on the federal government to cease subsidies that are going towards propping up a collapsing cow milk industry that kills mother cows once their dairy production slows and ‘veal’ calves under 12 months old who have not been given the chance for life,” continued McQueen. “We also call on the federal government and the CFIA to withdraw the license for Tru Harvest Meats and shut them down.”
What You Can Do:
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Join Toronto Pig Save in demanding the CFIA withdraw Tru Harvest’s license.
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CALL the CFIA at 1-800-442-2342 and ask them to take action or contact them using their feedback form HERE!
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If you live in Toronto, please join Toronto Pig Save for their weekly cow vigils, Tuesday mornings 10am – 12pm at St. Helens slaughterhouse, 1-3 Glen Scarlett Rd. (opposite from the proposed site of the new slaughterhouse).