Ministry of Agriculture and Lands

FOOD SAFETY SYSTEMS: OVERVIEW

The governments of Canada and British Columbia are committed to ensuring that foods produced in Canada are among the safest and highest quality in the world. To further this cause, funding will be made available to the people of British Columbia under Growing Forward (GF), the new agriculture policy partnership between the federal and the provincial government, which runs from 2009-2013.

For more information about Growing Forward please visit: www.agr.gc.ca/growingforward.

GF consists of food safety management programs that will assist B.C. in responding to food safety priorities and provide proactive management to address food borne risks along the agri-food chain, contributing significantly to the health and well-being of British Columbians. GF addresses food safety through two “application-driven” programs being offered to the agri-food sector, namely; Food Safety Systems Implementation (FSSI) Program and Enterprise Infrastructure Traceability (EIT) Program.

Food Safety Systems Implementation (FSSI) Program is a financial incentive-driven program to encourage and support B.C. producers/ growers and non-federally registered processors to implement food safety management systems in their operations.
Enterprise Infrastructure Traceability Program is also a program to assist primary and secondary operations in B.C. agri-food sector to purchase and install traceability infrastructure/system in their operations to demonstrate “movement of information” of their agri-food product from receiving to shipping.

Food Safety Systems Implementation (FSSI) Program:

The FSSI program is broken down into two subprograms, FSSI (producer) and FSSI (processor) that target B.C.’s farmers/ growers and processors respectively.

FSSI (Producer) Program

The objective of the Food Safety System Implementation (Producers) Program is to facilitate the early adoption of national on-farm food safety (OFFS) systems by producers through financial incentives. This program is being delivered through BC Agriculture and Research Corporation (ARDCORP), a subsidiary of the BC Agriculture Council (BCAC) from 2009-13 with a budget of approx $2.4 million. The FSSI (producer) program consists of two elements; Outreach and Implementation:

Outreach Element: is a food safety awareness and education program being delivered by the commodity associations that have a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) based CFIA approved OFFS Plan ready to be implemented. Participating commodity associations will deliver food safety education awareness based on their commodity/ sector specific OFFS manual, including assistance with eligible producers to develop a work-plan customized to their individual operation/ and needs. A number of international OFFS programs (e.g. Global GAP, BRC etc) have also been deemed eligible as an alternative to the national OFFS programs. Eligible producers may apply directly for assistance through the Implementation Element (below) for recognized international programs.

Implementation Element: provides funding support for producers to put in place their individual OFFS Plan leading to valid certification of their OFFS system. The program will reimburse 90% of eligible costs to a maximum of $3,000 per farm for approved projects.

Further information on the FSSI-producer can be found at ARDCORP (BCAC) website:
http://www.ardcorp.ca/index.php?page_id=43

FSSI (Processor) Program

The objective of the Food Safety System Implementation (Processor) Program (FSSI (Processor)) is to increase the number of non-federally registered food processing operations moving towards and/or having Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) food safety systems in their plants through financial incentives. The program is being delivered through the Small Scale Food Processor Association (SSFPA) from 2009-13 with a budget of approx $2.7 million. FSSI (processor) program consists of two distinct elements; Outreach and Implementation

Outreach: Funding is directed towards education workshops that advance food safety education, accompanied by one on one consultations for eligible processors leading to development of a customized workplan for implementing food safety systems in participants’ processing/manufacturing plant.

Implementation: The Implementation element is the second stage of the Food Safety Initiative after the Outreach element. It provides an opportunity for non-federally registered processors in B.C. to implement food safety systems such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) or Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and/or ISO 22000. Processors accepted into the Implementation element may choose to either improve their GMPs or seek a HACCP certification (which includes GMPs plus one HACCP plan) from an acceptable certifying body. They will undergo a gap analysis by a food industry consultant and create a food safety work plan. Financial assistance will take the form of a 90% reimbursement towards the cost of eligible expenses. Eligible expenses will be reimbursed up to $15,000 for GMPs; up to $5,000 for successful HACCP/ ISO 22000 certification.

Further information on the FSSI-processor can be found at the following link:
www.ssfpa.net/foodsafety

Enterprise Infrastructure Traceability Program

The Enterprise Infrastructure Traceability Program is designed to assist primary and secondary operations in the B.C. agri-food sector to purchase and install traceability infrastructure/systems in their operation to demonstrate “movement of information” of their agri-food product from receiving to shipping. Financial assistance will take the form of a 75% reimbursement of eligible expenses. Examples of eligible expenses include software and hardware purchase and/ or installation DIRECTLY related to traceability, accompanying training and an onsite assessment to verify information flow. This program is being delivered through BC Agriculture and Research Corporation (ARDCORP), a subsidiary of BCAC over the next 4 years with a budget of approximately $2.04 million from 2009-13.

Further information on the Enterprise Infrastructure Traceability Program can be found at: http://www.ardcorp.ca/index.php?page_id=44