UPDATE 1-Cargill canola meal eyed after salmonella test

* Salmonella found in Cargill canola meal

* Meal traced to Clavet, Saskatchewan plant

* FDA applying higher scrutiny to Cargill shipments (Adds further comments, details about testing, salmonella, Cargill plant status, paragraphs 10-14)

By Rod Nickel

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, June 16 (Reuters) - Cargill [CARG.UL] shipments of Canadian canola meal into the United States face more scrutiny after salmonella was found in a shipment this winter, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration document shows.

Cargill's Clavet, Saskatchewan plant crushed the contaminated canola meal, according to an FDA import refusal report. The FDA could not immediately say when the contaminated shipment was detected at the U.S.-Canada border, but the report dates Cargill's import alert status as March 11.

That status signals FDA inspectors to pay special attention to Cargill products. The FDA could not immediately say if the alert applies only to canola meal or a broader range of Cargill products.

Import alert status signals to inspectors that the FDA has enough evidence to warrant refusing admission to the United States without physical inspection of the goods.

Companies under import alert status must provide results of third-party lab tests proving the products are free of salmonella with its shipments to the United States, said FDA spokeswoman Rita Chappelle.

Cargill spokesman Robert Meijer said salmonella concerns are an industry issue, not one limited to the company.

"As an industry, we are working with FDA to resolve their concerns," he said in an email.

Cargill is one of at least two Canadian canola crushers facing U.S. border restrictions because of salmonella. Two rail car shipments of canola meal from Bunge Ltd (BG.N)'s Canadian crushing plants tested positive in May for salmonella.

Canola, a variant of rapeseed, is crushed for its oil, creating a meal byproduct used as animal feed.

The Canadian Oilseed Processors Association (COPA) said Friday that the FDA has recently imposed higher standards for salmonella testing in agricultural products. But Chappelle said nothing has changed.

"When we test product and it has salmonella, it can't come in to the country," she said in an email.

Once a company's product tests positive for salmonella, it must file a corrective action plan for review by the FDA, Chappelle said.