Current Events
CFA Food Safety & Quality Activities
APF II – the Next Generation of Agriculture Policy:
CFA has been actively engaged in the federal government’s consultations on the next generation of agricultural policy and have been offering extensive feedback on the government’s policy framework proposal, “Growing Forward”. At CFA’s semi-annual meeting in July, members formalized several resolutions to address the gaps in the proposed framework .
Concerning Food Safety and Quality, the CFA will solicit the government in hopes to ensure that:
- Transitional funding and policy direction for On-Farm Food Safety programs are in place immediately to allow for a seamless transfer between frameworks and to maintain program momentum.
- Food safety is treated as an incentive based system, rather than a regulative system to facilitate producer uptake of programs as well as long term sustainability of the programs.
- Traceability is implemented at a national level and is compatible with provincial and international systems.
- Governments facilitate and support the industry at the all stages of program development-- planning, implementing, and monitoring.
- Canadian agriculture is positioned as solution provider to society’s needs – not only for healthy and environmentally responsive food, but for safe food as well.
- Imports meet the same standards as those of Canadian products to guarantee a leveled playing field for farmers.
The CFA is currently encouraging the federal government to adopt the above amendments into the Growing Forward policy framework. To view a copy of these resolutions, click here.
COFFS Working Group Conference
The “Road Ahead” conference, organized jointly by the Canadian On-Farm Food Safety Working Group and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, was held in Ottawa on June 26 and attracted 140 participants from both industry and government. Presentations by industry leaders from Canada, Australia, the U.S, and China generated a great deal of productive discussion. Subjects highlighted were program development, emerging challenges, international approaches, and new initiatives in partnerships along the supply chain. For more information, visit www.onfarmfoodsafety.ca
The COFFS Working Group held their September meeting in Edmonton. The next meeting in scheduled to be in Ottawa the last week of November.
CFSQP:
The Canadian Food Safety and Quality Program is in its final year. Members are working towards completing their projects to establish national on-farm food safety initiatives. For more information about the program, click here.