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If ever there was a year when public confidence in food safety was tested, 2008 had to be it.
“Consumers assume that food is safe and meets the same standards regardless where they purchase it from,” says Karen Goad. “Our objective is to work with farm-direct marketers to make sure that assumption continues to be valid.”
Goad and other Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) staff, working closely with Alberta Health, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and industry partners, have developed a number of food safety resources for farm-direct marketers and agricultural tourism businesses. While food safety is sometimes equated with a set of regulations, it is better described as a set of logical, well-grounded principles and best practices that a business follows to produce safe food.
In 2007, ARD, in partnership with the Alberta Farmers’ Market Association, published and distributed Marketing Food Safely. According to Goad, this resource allows farm-direct marketers to learn more about the food safety issues most relevant to the marketing aspect of their businesses.
“This is an interactive resource, based on the premise that effective food safety plans are built on a solid foundation of prerequisite programs,” she says. “People can work through the resource at their own pace and cover a range of issues or focus on the appropriate chapters to address their current concerns.”
Marketing Food Safely offers detailed information on ‘best practices’ relating to premises, sanitation, storage, transportation, equipment, personal hygiene, pest control and recall, as well as other topics. The resource can be purchased through the Alberta Farmers’ Market Association. Visit www.albertamarkets.com/members or call 1-780-427-6403.
More food safety information is available in a growing series of fact sheets, the first of which is called Farm Direct Sales: Know the Regulations. Visit www.agriculture.alberta.ca and search FARM DIRECT SALES.
While food safety issues will vary according to the nature of the product, Goad identifies two factors that all producer-processors must come to grips with.
“Producers have to perform their due diligence in terms of record keeping, so if a lapse in food safety should occur, the product could easily be recalled,” she says. “The second key issue is to have a set of standard operating procedures that are the basis for ongoing staff training.”
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