FEDERAL-PROVINCIAL-TERRITORIAL
FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT ON AGRICULTURAL AND AGRI-FOOD POLICY FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
PART TWO - CHAPTER COMPONENTS OF THE FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT
SECTION B- FOOD SAFETY AND FOOD QUALITY
19 DEFINITIONS
19.1 In this Section:
"agri-food continuum" means an integrated complex chain that includes primary agriculture and inputs, food and beverage processing, distribution, transportation, wholesale and retail of food, food services, and consumers;
"HACCP" means Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point system, a world-wide recognized, science-based, preventative approach to food safety that addresses Hazards by anticipating and preventing such Hazards, rather than by inspecting a final product;
"HACCP-based" means an on-farm food safety program based on the principles on HACCP, but one in which the Hazard analysis conducted is generic, in that it covers all the producers in a given commodity sector and results in a list of commonly accepted Hazards which are then translated into a series of good production practices to which participants shall adhere;
"Hazard" means, as set out in Hazard and Critical Control Point System and Guidelines for its Application, Annex to the Recommended International Code of Practice - General Principles of Food Hygiene (CAC/RCP 1 - (1969), Rev 3 (1997)), a biological, chemical or physical agent in, or that is a condition of, food, having the potential to cause an adverse health effect;
"Identity Preservation" means, as set out in Identity-Preserving Production and Marketing Systems in the Global Agri-Food Market: Implications for Canada - (Stuart Smyth and Peter W.B. Phillips, University of Saskatchewan, 2001), a 'closed loop' channel that facilitates the production and delivery of an assured quality by allowing traceability of a commodity from the germplasm, or breeding stock, to the processed product on a retail shelf;
"industry" means any private sector enterprise that is a part of the agriculture and agri-food sector;
"model legislation" means, as set out in A Common Legislative Base For Food Law In Canada (April 2001), a set of common standards and requirements against which existing federal, provincial, and territorial legislation can be compared and harmonized;
"on-farm food safety program" means a systematic approach that represents a set of production practices and control measures, and includes an on-farm food safety ("OFFS") program backgrounder as currently understood within the context of the Canadian On-Farm Food Safety Program, producer manual and management manual, and is developed to promote the production of safe products at the farm level;
"process control systems" means, as set out in A Common Legislative Base For Food Law In Canada - derived from the definition for HACCP (April 2001), systems that are based on HACCP principles and which place emphasis on preventing Hazards from occurring during production, as opposed to detecting defects during end-product inspection;
"public health surveillance" means, as set out in Health Canada, Population and Public Health Branch, Notifiable Diseases On-line (Glossary), the on-going, systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data essential to planning, implementation and evaluation of public health practice which is disseminated in a timely manner to those responsible for prevention and control;
"quality" means the ability of a set of inherent characteristics of a product, system or process to fulfill requirements of customers and other interested parties; and
"traceability" or "traceability system" means the ability to trace the history, application or location of an entity by means of recorded identifications.
20 COMMON GOALS
20.1 The Parties agree to work with industry and consumers on the following food safety and food quality common outcome goals:
20.1.1 to protect human health by reducing exposure to Hazards;
20.1.2 to increase consumer confidence in the safety and quality of food produced in Canada;
20.1.3 to increase industry’s ability to meet or to exceed market requirements for food safety and food quality; and
20.1.4 to provide value-added opportunities through the adoption of food safety and food quality systems.
20.2 The Parties agree on the following food safety and food quality common management goals:
20.2.1 to work with industry towards the development and implementation by industry of government-recognized food safety and food quality process control systems throughout the agri-food continuum;
20.2.2 to increase significantly the quality, quantity and availability of data or other information to support the development of risk management strategies and industry-led food safety and food quality process control systems; and
20.2.3 to establish governance systems to allow for integrated policy development and legislative harmonization among the Parties.
21 TARGETS AND INDICATORS
21.1 The Parties agree to work with industry towards reaching the following food safety and food quality targets by the end of the Implementation Period:
21.1.1 the development of, or participation in, industry-developed and government-recognized on-farm food safety process control systems by all commodity sectors;
21.1.2 the participation in food safety process control systems, developed or to be developed by industry and recognized by government, of all sectors of the agri- food continuum to the retail level;
21.1.3 the participation in food process control systems for quality, developed or to be developed by industry and recognized by government, by all sectors requesting a national system for food quality to meet market requirements and consumer demands;
21.1.4 the development by industry of traceability systems which would allow for eighty (80) per cent of domestic products available at the retail level to be traceable through the agri-food continuum; and
21.1.5 the development by industry of traceability components for all products/commodities within the food quality and food safety control systems.
21.2 The Parties further agree on the following targets and indicators:
21.2.1 an increase in the rate of transfer of technology arising from publicly-supported research and development to support Hazard detection and control; and
21.2.2 the sharing among governments and, where appropriate, with industry and other partners, of relevant data and information to support public health and food safety systems, and the ready availability of such data and information.
22 IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES
22.1 The Parties agree to work with industry and, where appropriate, other stakeholders, to put in place the following implementation measures:
Food Safety
22.1.1 to offer funding, program and technical assistance to facilitate industry development and implementation of process control systems recognized or to be recognized by government;
22.1.2 to introduce measures to facilitate the development by industry of food safety training materials and appropriate training courses;
22.1.3 to establish a credible and co-ordinated system that allows for recognition by Canada of food safety process control systems, the administration of which could be done in collaboration with the Parties, including the completion of the design for a national recognition system for on-farm food safety programs by the end of 2003 and the expansion of government recognition to other sectors in the agri-food continuum as requested;
22.1.4 to work with health ministers, where appropriate, towards the development of a national mechanism for integrated decision-making on food safety matters;
22.1.5 to enhance food safety surveillance systems and public health surveillance systems as they relate to food safety within the Parties’ jurisdictions by,
22.1.5.1 completing an inventory and analysis of existing information gathering and dissemination systems by the end of 2003;
22.1.5.2 identifying any legal implications associated with information gathering, sharing and dissemination, and developing a proposed strategy for addressing these implications by the end of 2004;
22.1.5.3 developing a proposed strategy and implementation plan for improved food safety surveillance and public health surveillance, information sharing and dissemination by 2005; and
22.1.5.4 working towards improving the legislative framework and decision-making process for food safety, including outcome-based national standards and legislative harmonization. The Parties further agree to jointly develop a work plan for model legislation for consideration by June 2003 and to work towards incorporating model legislation into their legislative systems by the end of the Implementation Period.
Food Quality
22.1.6 to promote international acceptance of Canadian agricultural and agri-food products and to meet market requirements and consumer demands by establishing, where appropriate and at the request of industry, national, credible and co-ordinated programs to facilitate the development by industry of food quality systems including, where appropriate, funding, technical assistance and government recognition.
Traceability
22.1.7 to facilitate the development and implementation of traceability systems by industry throughout the agri-food continuum by, inter alia,
22.1.7.1 assisting the agriculture and agri-food sector in the development of data management standards for traceability systems;
22.1.7.2 continuing to support the development of traceability systems at the retail level; and
22.1.7.3 providing funding and technical support for development of traceability and Identity Preservation systems, along the agri-food continuum to the retail level.
Research for Food Safety and Food Quality
22.1.8 to coordinate research activities and promote technology transfer to,
22.1.8.1 improve food safety Hazard detection and control methodologies;
22.1.8.2 identify risks and develop intervention strategies for the management of risks; and
22.1.8.3 support and improve the development and implementation of more effective industry-led food safety, traceability, and food quality systems.
22.2 The Parties recognize that industry is taking a leadership role in working to develop insurance coverage options with respect to food safety and traceability.
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| Date Modified: 2005-04-20 | Important Notices | |
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