The Canadian sheep industry has received a major funding boost to implement a national food safety program.
The federal government has provided $348,090 through Growing Forward 2 to combine food safety, a code of practice for handling sheep and biosecurity standards into one program. Further farmer training is also coming, said Corlena Patterson, executive director of the Canadian Sheep Federation.
“What we would like to do now is incorporate them into one quality assurance program so we can deliver training to producers,” she said.
The food safe farm practices program has already received Canadian Food Inspection Agency recognition.
Interested producers will be able to take the training and have their farms certified with a third party audit to show they are following proper procedures and keeping appropriate records.
The quality assurance program is not mandatory, but some value chains and abattoirs want it in place to assure customers that the highest standards are met, said Patterson.
barbara.duckworth@producer.com
