A new beef packing plant here wants to incorporate international food safety standards to put it a step ahead of the competition.
IBG Global Meats, which is planning to operate a 600-head per day slaughter plant at the former Burns plant in Brandon, is looking at following criteria set out by the International Standards Organization.
The strict quality assurance program is planned both for the plant and on the farm, said IBG president James Bezan.
“This would give us a big selling advantage over all our competitors,” he said.
IBG wants to go beyond the new HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) program to make the Brandon plant the first in North America to carry global standards right from farmgate to slaughter.
Quality assurance is crucial to maintaining consumer confidence, he said.
“We’re not building gadgets here. We’re feeding a nation and we have a responsibility in how we do that,” Bezan said.
“Every time there’s an E. coli outbreak and hamburger is recalled it tarnishes our image so we’ve still got a long way to go.”
