Adopt Advantage for Food Safety

Food safety is everyone's responsibility! For that reason the Advantage Series of Food Safety Programs^TM are being developed and introduced at all stages along the food chain including Ontario farmers, truckers, processors and retailers. The most recent addition to this series is Advantage Good Agricultural Practices, which focuses on food safety at the farm.

What is Advantage Good Agricultural Practices?

Advantage Good Agricultural Practices is a set of food safety practices that are designed to meet the needs of farmers who produce more than one commodity. These practices cover all aspects of crop and livestock production on the farm.

Advantage Good Agricultural Practices was developed with small and medium sized operations in mind, but can be applied to any farm operation, regardless of size or farming practices. It is a whole-farm, generic approach to food safety that allows farmers who produce more than one commodity to follow one program and keep one set of records.

Figure 1: Advantage Good Agricultural Practices logo

How was Advantage Good Agricultural Practices developed?

On-farm food safety requirements from existing national, provincial and international programs were examined to identify universal standards. From these universal standards a common set of good agricultural practices and record keeping requirements were developed. The Advantage Good Agricultural Practices manual combines all identified practices into three sections: a general production module; a livestock and poultry module; and a crop module. No new food safety practices or standards were created. Instead, practices were re-packed to meet the needs of farms that produce more than one commodity.

How does Advantage Good Agricultural Practices compare to national commodity on-farm food safety programs?

National commodity on-farm food safety programs are based on internationally recognized Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP), covering a single commodity and requiring third-party audit recognition. For single commodity farms these programs are an important part of gaining food safety recognition and marketing promotion.

Advantage Good Agricultural Practices provides farmers with another option for implementing food safety that best fits their management style, diversification and niche marketing. For example, farms that produce more than one commodity would be able to use one manual instead of following several programs. As a result farms would only need to keep one set of records and would reduce the amount of time spent on record keeping.

How does Advantage Good Agricultural Practices work?

The Advantage Good Agricultural Practices manual offers the full spectrum of on-farm food safety needs and producers can select practices that apply to their specific production systems. With each good agricultural practice is a listing of Ontario and Federal regulations governing the practice, record requirements and what could be required for an audit. Supporting materials will include posters, fact sheets, training packages for workers and generic record templates. Materials will be made available in hard and electronic formats.

What is the present status of Advantage Good Agricultural Practices?

Draft 1 of the manual has been available since February 2007 however, distribution has been limited until a pilot testing is completed. The pilot includes six mixed-farming operations in Ontario and will be completed by December 2007. Any changes coming out of the pilot will be incorporated into the manual which will be ready for complete distribution in early 2008.

What other Advantage programs are in the making?

Strategies for trucking and food handlers are presently being studied for introduction in the near future. In addition Advantage Good Agricultural Practices could see an expansion to include animal welfare and biosecurity.

If you think Advantage Good Agricultural Practices will suit your on-farm food safety needs and would like additional information please contact: Agricultural Information Contact Centre 1-877-424-1300.

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