CHARLOTTETOWN – Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says food and farm tampering is a despicable and deplorable act and anyone found responsible will feel the full force of the law.
Ritz made the comment today as a meeting of federal and provincial agriculture ministers wrapped up in Charlottetown.
Last month, Prince Edward Island’s potato industry increased the reward it is offering to $500,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whomever is responsible for inserting metal objects into potatoes.
The federal government recently announced it will spend $1.5 million to buy metal detection equipment to help find foreign objects in potatoes from the province.
READ MORE: Halifax police investigate another incident of nail found in a potato
P.E.I. Agriculture Minister Alan McIsaac says in some cases farms have been shut down for six weeks while they install the new equipment, drastically cutting into their bottom line.
There have been several cases of metal objects being found in potatoes in Atlantic Canada, with most coming from a farm in P.E.I.
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