(Reuters) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has lifted restrictions against imports of Canadian canola meal from a Bunge Ltd. plant at Altona, Man., easing a situation that has sharply cut Canadian exports to the U.S. over health concerns.
The FDA has removed the plant from its online list of plants that are on import-alert status due to concerns about salmonella bacteria in animal feeds, Bunge spokeswoman Deb Seidel confirmed to Reuters on Friday.
The restrictions allowed U.S. inspectors to detain shipments without physically examining them.
Bunge, a St. Louis, Mo.-based multinational agrifood firm, announced earlier this month it plans to more than double its canola crush at Altona, about 100 km south of Winnipeg.
The expansion project, due to be completed in time for the 2012 harvest, would see the plant’s crush capacity boosted to 2,500 tonnes of canola per day, up from 1,100 currently.
