What is On-Farm food Safety?

Since many markets are now requiring the tracking of product safety and quality back to the original producer, there is a significant interest among Canadian producers to develop HACCP based On Farm Fodio Safety systems. The development of farm HACCP, including records and corrective action plans, will positively benefit the marketing of Canadian shellfish products. This market driven trend is not limited to shellfish and similar farm based HACCP initiatives are happening on terrestrial farms and in other agriculture sectors as well.

• Terrestrial Farm Based HACCP

The HACCP system will establish an overall framework that can be exportable to new growing areas and situations as they arise to provide monitoring abilities and address issues relating to growing area classification. Farm HACCP focuses solely on farm production practices that lead up to the processing plant.

Application of HACCP to Shellfish Farming

Components of a farm HACCP plan include the development of a product flow diagram, identification of Standard Operating Practices (SOPs), and Critical Control Points (CCPs).

The areas of shellfish production that the pilot project covers includes:

1. Pre-harvest considerations - To ensure that all bivalve molluscan shellfish come from growing areas that meet federal water quality standards.

2. Harvest and temporary storage prior to shipping - Assurance of product safety prior to harvesting and storage and the handling prior to receipt by the processing plant.

3. Shipping: Farm to Receipt by Processor - Product quality assurance during shipping from the primary producer to the processing plant.