| Food Safe Farm Practices
The Canadian Sheep Federation’s Food Safe Farm Practices (FSFP) program is a voluntary program that was developed through a partnership between producer, industry and government personnel from across Canada. The program, which has been continually developing since 1997, addresses and anticipates potential food safety challenges facing the sheep industry.
The program examines all areas of production and outlines management options that are designed to minimize food safety risks. It is based on “must do” good production practices (GPPs). It also makes recommendations on practices geared to assist producers in producing a safe and high-quality product. GPPs are operating procedures that promote food safety and production efficiency.
A HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points, pronounced “haa-sip”) approach was used to develop this program. What this means is that on-farm food safety risks during the production process were identified. Then, control measures were developed to reduce those risks. The places where these risks could occur are called Critical Control Points.
Sources of on-farm hazards:
• Physical (broken needles)
• Biological (E. coli, salmonella)
• Chemical (antibiotic residues)
A Critical Control Point is a point, step or procedure where potential exists for a hazard may increase and where control can be applied so as to prevent, eliminate or reduce the hazard to an acceptable level.
The Food Safe Farm Practices Producer Manual has completed CFIA Technical Review, being one of the first programs to achieve this milestone. In addition, the Canadian Sheep Federation’s Board of Directors has demonstrated its commitment to on-farm food safety (OFFS) by its inclusion in their 2008-2013 business plan.
Funding for this project was provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
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