A food service industry group is urging the B.C. government to reject a proposed increase to the farm-level price of chicken.
Restaurants Canada said the price hike proposed by the B.C. Chicken Marketing Board would raise the cost of chicken for consumers by 10 per cent on average.
The cost of chicken in British Columbia is already, on average, the highest in Canada, the organization said in a statement.
The group warns that would place a burden on restaurants at a time when more than half across Canada are operating at a loss or barely breaking even.
Other industry groups are also opposed to the price hike, including the Canadian Poultry & Egg Processors and the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.
The B.C. Farm Industry Association is currently weighing the proposal.
“The entire process is flawed. Not allowing consumers such as the foodservice industry and the public to have a say when food prices are at an all-time high is unconscionable,” Mark von Schellwitz, vice-president of Western Canada, Restaurants Canada, said in a statement.
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“We have been shut out; therefore, we are calling on the B.C. government to protect businesses and the public from the proposed dramatic increase in chicken prices.”
Sylvain Charlebois, a Canadian researcher and professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University in Halifax, told Global News that looking at information published by Stats Canada, the price of a whole chicken per kilogram is about 51 per cent more in B.C. than the national average.
“Same for breasts, thighs and other products as well,” he said.
“Typically, British Columbians are asked to pay way more for poultry products, even though they’re supply-managed.”
Charlebois said each province has a board that oversees food prices but the price of chicken may be higher in B.C. because of the recent avian flu outbreaks.
Fifty-two farms in British Columbia have been struck by last year’s avian flu outbreak, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed in December.
The highly-transmissible virus spread rapidly after Oct. 20, primarily impacting farmers in the Fraser Valley. Five small-flock farms and 47 commercial farms lost thousands of animals.
Charlebois said chicken is the most affordable animal protein available and an increase in B.C. would likely have impacts across the country.
“Prices haven’t been all that stable in recent years,” he added.
Global News has reached out to the B.C. government for comment.
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