Farm-Scape, Episode 1556

The Canadian pork industry's on farm food safety program has successfully completed phase one of the process that will lead to official federal government recognition of the program.

Canadian Quality Assurance was developed by the Canadian Pork Council as a means of documenting the safety of Canadian Pork and it's one 19 such programs seeking official Canadian Food Inspection Agency recognition.

The competition of phase one was announced last week during the Canadian Pork Council's annual meeting in Abbotsford.

National CQA Coordinator Dawn Lawrence says this means the technical review team has determined the HACCP model and the contents of the CQA program to be scientifically sound.

"What this says is the work the CQA technical working group has put into the program development and the input producers have given us as far as what can be done on the farm relative to on farm food safety, that the controls put in place to manage and minimize food safety risks are effective from a scientific perspective.

It says we are doing a technically sound job on the program. This is the scientific side of it and, from both the domestic and international perspective, that's critical.

The participation of the federal, provincial and territorial governments lends credibility to the on farm food safety programs.

The federal government, CFIA, is well recognized and well respected throughout the world so its stamp of approval on the technical soundness of the program will merit attention".

The second phase of the CFIA recognition process, which will review the administration and delivery of the various food safety programs, is still under development.

Lawrence says criteria for that phase is expected this fall.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.