CFIA nabs Enderby abattoir

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has announced eight charges under the Health of Animals Act against Enderby farmer and meat processor Richard Yntema.

The Yntema family runs a small game farm and processing plant in the North Okanagan where they raise deer, wild boar and lamb. Since 2008, their abattoir Valley Wide Meats has processed livestock and other animals, including bison, cattle, deer, emu, goats, hogs, ostrich, water buffalo, sheep and rabbit.

CFIA alleges that Yntema fed animals specified risk material, which the CFIA defines as “the skull, brain, trigeminal ganglia, eyes, palatine tonsils, spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) of cattle aged 30 months or older, as well as the distal ileum of cattle of all ages.”

CFIA further alleges that the farm fed meat or meat by-products to swine or poultry as well as animal parts or carcasses to livestock or poultry.

In addition, the charges allege that Yntema obstructed or hindered an inspector, and made a false or misleading statement to an inspector.

Yntema had his first court appearance on April 23 and is set to appear in provincial court in Salmon Arm on May 7.

The federal inspection agency has had previous run-ins with Yntema regarding the Health of Animals Act. In November 2020, he was in court for six charges of obstructing and hindering investigators and six charges of failing to provide relevant information to health inspectors about untagged animals that arrived for slaughter.

In June 2020 the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy visited Valley Wide Meats following neighbours’ complaints of birds dropping slaughter waste on their properties. At that time, the ministry issued a penalty for failing to provide records on request.

In 2016, Yntema pleaded guilty and was fined $1,000 for failing to secure animals and the unlawful possession of live wildlife.

Yntema did not respond to an interview request before deadline. The BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food deferred questions to the CFIA, which was unavailable to comment before deadline.

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17 hours ago

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23 hours ago

Forty-six regions in BC are eligible to participate in the federal livestock tax deferral program, announced yesterday, more than anywhere else in the country. The program allows producers who downsize their breeding herds by 15% to defer reporting the proceeds until the following year, when they buy replacement stock. But after multiple years of drought, the BC beef herd is cruising 25-year lows and some producers are calling for more support to maintain and rebuild their herds. For more, see: [www.countrylifeinbc.com/bc-leads-livestock-tax-deferrals/]

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5 days ago

After weeks and weeks of no moisture, there's rain in Kelowna today. While much more moisture is needed over the coming weeks and months to reduce drought conditions and the air smells of wet campfire, the slow, steady rain is very welcome for fruit grower#BCAg#BCAg ... See MoreSee Less

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6 days ago

The first Delta Farmland and Wildlife Trust Grassland Set-aside Variety Trial Field Day was held at Delta's family-owned Tecarte Farms, August 27. Co-owner Bill Bates and DFWT executive director Christine Schmalz welcomed more than 35 people to view seven acres planted to different grassland blends specifically chosen to rejuvenate the soil and support the farm's blueberries. For the Bates family, it was time to try something different following the decline of the field's blueberry bushes over the past several years. "We tried everything, and nothing worked," says Bates. The blueberries were removed in May and the grassland crops planted about a week later.

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Bessette Creek is the latest watershed hit with a temporary fish protection order this year as the province moves to protect returning Chinook salmon. A total of 131 surface and groundwater users must cease drawing water immediately, with forage producers, greenhouses and nurseries impacted. "Declining flows in Bessette Creek reached record lows in early July 2026 and have remained below the minimum level required to support fish population survival," says the province. Bessette producers have embraced voluntary cutbacks, scheduled irrigation and other measures to reduce water use, and are also waiting on funding to boost water storage infrastructure. They're the second group of producers hit with a provincial order this year. Salmon River irrigators were told to top watering earlier this month following a reprieve to address wildfire risk. Growers in both the Salmon River and Bessette watersheds are urging the province to support new water storage infrastructure in advance of next year.

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There is a problem... having lived in the salmon river ( silver creek ) area, I remember a fish biologist telling family members that salmon only "survive" in high iron content creeks, they do not "thrive".... salmon river ( silver creek ) is a very high iron content, would stain clothes brown when i would use bleach... So don't expect high salmon numbers off of that creek , even in ideal situations...

I just wish they would take an interest in CHASE CREEK....went bone dry...100% of trout abd other species died...smell was terrible from rotting fish. Understand this has happened many times in the past. Chase Irrigation District totally responsible for this disaster. Now fishermen are complaining about major drop in water levels at Pillar Lake.

They could not mismanage things worse than they have. It's impossible for them to. The fact that farmers that we need for our animals are now suffering the consequences our governments have not protected us from, is absolutely fucking wild.