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CGSB Awards Its First HACCP Advantage Certificate
By Roy John, Team Leader, Registration Services -
Environmental, Health and Safety Systems
| At a ceremony on September 13, 2004, the Honourable Steve Peters, Minister of Agriculture and Food for Ontario, presented the first HACCP Advantage certificate to T&R Sargent Farms of Milton, Ontario. T&R Sargent Farms is the first company to demonstrate compliance with the internationally recognized food safety protocol called Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), and was certified by the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB).
In presenting the certificate, Minister Peters praised the work done by all involved in achieving this milestone in Ontario's agricultural history. He recognized the commitment and effort of the owners and staff of T & R Sargent Farms in reaching this goal. He praised his own staff for their dedication to the project and the key role played by Fulton Food Safety Consultants. The Mayor and Regional Councillor of Milton, Gordon Krantz, was on hand to add his congratulations. |
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Developed nearly 30 years ago for NASA, HACCP addresses food safety through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product. For successful implementation of a HACCP plan, management must be strongly committed to the HACCP concept. A firm commitment to HACCP by top management provides company employees with a sense of the importance of producing safe food. HACCP is designed for use in all segments of the food industry from growing, harvesting, processing, manufacturing, distributing, and merchandising, to preparing food for consumption.
In Canada the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CIFA) and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) used HACCP to develop protocols for inspecting federally regulated industries, covering about 20% of the food sector. In recent discussions with the CGSB, CIFA felt the remaining 80% could be covered by voluntary certification to a standard. For this segment of the food industry, Canada did not have a food safety standard or an independent certification scheme. The food sector was rife with different, inconstant schemes and requirements that caused much confusion. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) agreed at a meeting of the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Committee on Food Safety to develop a comprehensive standard based on the HACCP protocol. Pat Johnson, the Program Manager for the Science and Advisory Unit, Food Inspection Branch of OMAF, and her team prepared the standard called HACCP Advantage.
Troy Jenner, Jim Christian and Cynthia Menyheart of OMAF worked with the CGSB to develop auditing protocols and to ensure that the standard was written in a manner that would allow unbiased auditing. Subsequently in August of 2004, an agreement was signed by the assistant deputy ministers of OMAF and Public Works and Government Services Canada. This federal-provincial program offers voluntary certification to the OMAF's HACCP Advantage Standard.
Aimed primarily at the non-federally regulated food sector, the HACCP Advantage program is open to all sectors of the food industry. It allows operators to show that they meet the requirements of the standard through the practices imposed by their management system. To maintain their status, the industry participants must undergo an annual third party, independent audit of their facilities to prove that their management system is ongoing and deficiencies are detected and corrected continually.
For information about certification, please contact:
Roy John
Registration Services - Environmental, Health and Safety Systems (RSE)
Canadian General Standards Board
11 Laurier Street
Gatineau, Canada
K1A 1G6
Telephone: 819 956-3479
Fax: 819 956-5740
E-mail: roy.john@pwgsc.gc.ca
For information about HACCP Advantage, please contact:
Pat Johnson
The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food
1 Stone Road West, 5th Floor NW
Guelph, ON
N1G 4Y2
Telephone: 519 826-3667
Fax: 519 826-4375
E- mail: pat.johnson@omaf.gov.gc.ca
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