For release: March 08, 2004

MCGUINTY GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES NEW FOOD SAFETY SYSTEM

TORONTO - As part of the McGuinty government's ongoing commitment to ensuring food safety, Agriculture and Food Minister Steve Peters today introduced a new food safety system for small and medium-sized food processing plants in Ontario.

The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a food safety system that focuses on identifying and preventing problems from occurring during food processing.

"Many large-scale operations have adopted HACCP to further safeguard the food supply and to meet customer demands, while reaching new markets," said Peters. "Our HACCP Advantage system makes it feasible and practical for small and medium sized food processors to achieve those same goals."

HACCP was originally designed in the 1960s to help ensure microbiological safety of food for NASA astronauts. HACCP has evolved to address chemical and physical hazards and is recognized worldwide as the leading means of maximizing food safety throughout the food chain.

"The HACCP Advantage does not replace traditional food inspection methods - it complements them," Peters said. "Ontario's food safety system, consumers, and food processors will all benefit - hence the name, HACCP Advantage."

The ministry's HACCP Advantage has been developed for use in the processing of several kinds of commodities and has attracted interest from other jurisdictions. OMAF is also working with the Canadian General Standards Board to deliver the recognition system for HACCP Advantage.

The HACCP Advantage

What is HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point)?
HACCP is a science-based, internationally accepted food safety system focused on the identification and prevention of hazards in the food chain. Originally designed in the 1960s to help ensure the microbiological safety of food for the NASA space program, HACCP now addresses chemical and physical hazards. It is applied to all segments of the food chain, and is recognized worldwide as the leading means of maximizing food safety during processing. Increasingly, clients of food processors are requiring that a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point system be an essential part of the processing system.

The HACCP Advantage System
The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) developed the HACCP Advantage as an approach and recognition framework for non-federally registered food processors. The program has been designed to be practical, feasible, and cost-effective for all facilities, regardless of size, commodity produced, or volume processed.

The HACCP Advantage is a comprehensive, yet flexible program that suits the needs of small and medium sized food processing plants while maintaining high food safety standards. It has the potential to become a national model and may be used in other provinces.

Using the HACCP Advantage, food processors will undertake an audit of their plants, identifying critical safety points and developing standards of operation. Under the HACCP Advantage, all employees in the plant will receive specific food safety training. The staff will be much more involved in monitoring processes and critical control points, and will be trained to take action when necessary. In addition, all findings during production must be documented by staff.

There are 57 prerequisite program standards in the HACCP Advantage designed to control environmental and personnel-related food safety hazards. The prerequisite programs are divided into four broad groups: control programs, training, operational controls and plant environmental controls. Further subgroups contain individual standards.

The HACCP Advantage also includes eight HACCP Plan Forms, which guide the development of a HACCP plan specific to an individual facility and its products. The completion of the HACCP forms will generate Critical Control Points (CCPs) where key hazards can be controlled by identifying the food safety controls that are needed to eliminate, prevent or reduce the hazard to an acceptable level.

A HACCP Advantage manual, complete with program standards and plan forms, is now available for food processors. For further information regarding the HACCP Advantage, please call 1-888-466-2372 ext. 64752, or email HACCP.Advantage@omaf.gov.on.ca. An Implementation Guidebook, with practical information on developing and implementing a HACCP system based upon the HACCP Advantage, will be available in late spring.

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Media Contact:
Mary Devorski
Minister Peters' Office
(416) 326-3077 or
(416) 606-8303 (mobile)

Program Contact:
Patricia Johnson
Food Inspection Branch, OMAF
519-826-3667
519-766-5035 (mobile)

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