Canadian Food Safety Management and Application of HACCP System (I)

First, Canada's food safety management system <br> Canada's food safety is a hierarchical management, mutual cooperation, and extensive participation in the model. The federal, provincial and municipal authorities all have responsibility for managing food safety. The main regulatory agencies at the federal level are the Canadian Ministry of Health and the Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-food. The two departments cooperate with each Other and perform their duties. The Ministry of Health is responsible for the formulation of safety and nutritional quality standards for all foods sold in Canada and the formulation of food safety related policies. CFIA is responsible for managing food enterprises that are registered at the federal level, have products that cross provincial or international markets, and supervise the implementation of relevant laws and regulations and implement these regulations and standards. The provincial government’s food safety agency provides inspections of tens of thousands of small food companies that sell their products locally within their jurisdiction. The municipality is responsible for providing and supervising the standards of public health for hotels that run final foods. . The government requires farmers, fishermen, food processors, importers, transporters and retailers to produce, process and operate in accordance with standards, technical regulations and guidelines. Cooks in homes, restaurants and institutional canteens process food according to the guidelines provided by food retailers, processors and the government. CFIA's co-operative unit, the Canadian Consumer Food Safety Education Organization, also provides consumers with information and knowledge about how to avoid diseases through the Internet. At the same time, other federal government departments in Canada also participate in relevant food safety management tasks, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Trade Department participating in food import and export trade and international food safety cooperation. In addition, universities, various specialized committees such as the Canadian Grain Commission, the Canadian Human, Animal Health Science Center, and the University of Guelgh also participate in food safety. In Canada, food safety is a universally accepted principle and reflects the breadth of participation.
Although there are many organizations involved in food safety management, CFIA at the federal level is the most important institution. CFIA's mission is to improve the food safety of food enterprises at the federal level, ensure the health and welfare of animals, and protect the basis of plant resources. Among them, raising the level of food safety in Canada and protecting the health of Canadian consumers are their most important duties. CFIA reports directly to the Minister of Agriculture and provides all federal food safety-related services, mainly supervising food producers, manufacturers, distributors and importers registered in the federal government to verify that their products can meet safety and quality requirements. , quantity, composition, identity, and standards for handling, processing, packaging, and labeling. If Canada and other countries have mutual food inspection and certification agreements, CFIA also issues certificates to export foods to prove that these foods meet the requirements of these importing countries. The daily work of CFIA's first-line inspectors, veterinarians and scientists involves the inspection of foods such as meat, eggs, milk, fish, honey, fruits, vegetables and processed products, and food safety inspections of animal slaughtering and processing companies; Promote HACCP's science-based approach to food safety management; promptly react in an appropriate manner when food safety emergencies and accidents occur; meet food safety requirements of other countries; and work with other governments to develop jointly recognized foods Safe operation methods and procedures; regulate food labels, stop all kinds of misleading market behaviors; impose penalties on products, facilities, and operating methods that do not comply with federal regulations, and even pursue legal responsibilities. CFIA has a total of approximately 4,800 trained employees and is headquartered in Ottawa. There are four regional offices throughout Canada, namely the Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario and Western offices. There are also 18 regional offices, 185 field offices and hundreds of factory offices. In addition, CFIA has 21 laboratories and research laboratories. The ultimate goal of CFIA is that the food safety situation can meet the requirements of all federal regulations. In order to achieve its goals, CFIA’s main measures are: cooperation with industry, establishment and adoption of more scientific management practices; inspection and testing to assess compliance with laws and regulations, and enforcement action to achieve consistency , including seizure, transfer, recall of products; when necessary, take legal action, including the collection of administrative fines and prosecution. Among them, cooperation with the industry, the establishment and implementation of more scientific management practices, as a preventive measure, has important significance, and it is highly favored.
As Canada's largest science-based management agency, CFIA has played a prominent role in promoting and promoting the use of effective practices. CFIA has developed a series of planning and innovation plans to encourage industry to adopt HACCP, the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (CHA) measures. CFIA assists the industry to transform and restructure their HACCP systems, provide HACCP system certification, and Check the status of implementation. All food regulations are implemented under the HACCP system, while the CFIA inspectors focus their attention on high-risk areas.
The Quality Management Plan (QMP) of CFIA is a plan based on the principle of HACCP, which has been enforced in the fish processing department of Canada since 1992. The implementation of this plan embodies the successful cooperation between CFIA and industry. CFIA is therefore also widely recognized internationally as one of the leaders in the enforcement of the HACCP-based management system in the food industry. In other commodity areas such as eggs and milk, the implementation of HACCP is currently voluntary. In the meat and poultry processing industry, although it is also voluntary, the enforcement of HACCP is already in the legislative process.
The Food Safety Oversight Program (FSEP) is a plan for the Agri-Food Sector. Although this plan is widely used in meat and poultry processing plants, it is also widely used in the milk, honey, eggs, and fruit and vegetable processing industries. Since the implementation of the plan, 664 federally registered food companies (2003 in total) have submitted certification applications, of which 327 have already been certified by the CFIA HACCP. The main reason for the relatively slow progress of corporate certification is that this process requires a lot of resources. In the past year, CFIA's main resources have been used to review and update the FSEP plan, and it is mandatory for all federally registered meat processing companies. Implementation of the HACCP system as a basis for work. The Canadian meat industry has been at the forefront of the voluntary implementation of the HACCP system.
In the poultry sector, 8 out of all 64 federally registered poultry processing companies (13%) implemented a modern poultry inspection program. This is a new pilot project based on the past few years. CFIA also drafted an amendment to the Meat Inspection Act to provide the necessary legal basis for the enforcement of the plan. For the first time, the amendment clearly stipulates that information on the animal’s health status must be reported to the appropriate slaughterhouse in advance before the animal is transported by the vehicle, so that the veterinary responsible for the slaughterhouse can obtain more information to judge the health of the slaughtered animal. situation. This will provide an important link between the slaughterhouse and the food safety project implemented on the farm.
In September 2000, in order to demonstrate the government’s commitment to food safety, the Canadian Minister of Agriculture announced a $11.4 million federal fund project “Canada Food Safety Plan” (CFSAP) supported by the Canadian Adjustment and Rural Development Fund. ). The plan is managed by CFIA and provides technical support. CFSAP and the food industry will jointly fund HACCP-based food safety risk management strategies, tools and system development activities. Any national associations or groups, whether directly or indirectly involved in food production, sales, delivery and processing, All can participate in this event. The plan includes two phases. The first phase focuses on the design and development of food safety strategies. The second phase focuses on the implementation of these strategies. CFSAP was designed by CFIA and related personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture and the food industry. It has a good complement to CFIA's ongoing FSEP and QMP. (Unfinished)