Now more than ever, people want to know about the food they buy. Are they getting high quality products? How are they produced? Consumers everywhere are looking for assurances about their purchases, and the food they serve their families.
We understand the need to provide our customers with assurances about the food they buy. To demonstrate our industry's commitment, the Canadian Quality Assurance (CQA) ® on-farm food safety program was developed to show what producers do each day on their farms to put high-quality pork on your plate.
CQA ® was launched in 1998 after a group of experts from the pork industry and government joined together. Their plan was to develop a program that producers could use to show their customers what they were doing on-farm. The program was pilot tested by producers prior to its release, to make sure it was practical and workable for them. Today, over 10,000 Canadian pork producers participate in CQA ®.
The premise behind CQA ® is relatively simple. The program is science-based, and uses HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) principles. These same principles were developed for the NASA space program. HACCP focuses on hazard prevention – figuring out what are the potential problems that could arise during food production, and finding ways to minimize or eliminate their occurrence.
The program requires producers to meet a very strict set of standards, and requires extensive record keeping. An external party then reviews these documents and examines the farm facilities to ensure that all the program standards are being met.
The CQA ® program enables Canadian pork producers to demonstrate that they are doing what it takes on their farms to produce the highest possible quality of pork for their customers. The program recently underwent a thorough federal and provincial government review, and received its Letter of Completion from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which found CQA ® to be technically sound.
CQA ® is a stringent food safety program and a core element of pork production in Canada . Because our ability to produce such a great product, we sell pork not only in Canada , but also to over 90 countries around the world.
CQA ® is our commitment to you that we are working hard everyday to produce high-quality pork for you and your family.
For more information regarding CQA ® in Alberta visit the website at http://albertapork.com/CQA.aspx Other links:
Canadian On-Farm Food Safety Program
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada |