The Canadian Horticultural Council plans to release an on-farm food safety (OFFS) training resource kit for fresh fruit and vegetable farmers
this month.
To
reassure buyers and maintain a high level of consumer confidence in Canadian
produce, the CHC has been working with the industry to develop eight
commodity-specific OFFS manuals for use by producers and packers.
The OFFS program is meant to bring into focus the potential sources of
microbiological, chemical and physical hazards for produce from field through
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technical documents are vetted by a government review team as part of the
Canadian On-Farm Food Safety Recognition program.
The new training kit includes hand washing signage, informational
brochures, a list of frequently asked questions and a CD-ROM. “It’s an excellent
resource for producers and packers to use to train their employees in food
safety and work through the CHC On-Farm Food Safety (OFFS) Manuals,” said CHC
executive vice-president Anne Fowlie. “It highlights the five Good
Agricultural Practices (GAPs) which are the cornerstones of on-farm food
safety, and also provides supplementary information to help assess and manage
on-farm food safety hazards.”
The training kit will be distributed to all members of the CHC. Public
access to the materials will also be available on a cost-recovered basis.
