The Huron Expositor, 1995-03-15, Page 49< 414 '1
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Farm Program 111C -Page Si
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The food safety system sees improvements
"Food safety problems are like an
earthquake - you have one and it
could wipe you out completely."
That's the opinion of Dr. Ronald
Usborne, vice-president of quality
assurance and research and develop-
ment with Caravelle Foods. As
Caravelle is the sole supplier of
hamburger patties to McDonald's
food outlets across Canada, he
knows what he's talking about.
"Food safety is like no other part
of a business," Osborne explains.
"You can't have high and low
periods. You must always be
looking at how to minimize risks."
And Caravelle Foods is
minimizing those risks, like a num-
ber of other companies across the
country, by using an internationally
recognized performance-based stan-
dard called HACCP, or the Hazard
Analysis and Critical Control Points
system.
HACCP isn't new, but is
widespread use and acceptance is.
It was developed in the 1960s by
Ripley woman
is on OCA
executive
Jane Herron, of Ripley, is the
new secretary/treasurer of the
Ontario Charolais Association.
Herron along with new
president Ross Laycock, of
Owen Sound, first vice Vem
Spence of Kars, and second vice
Brian Dudgeon of Dobbinton
form the executive board.
Farmers need
enthusiasm
belief, goals
•from page 30
making have added stress. Some
farmers thrive on that, though."
He said the most enjoyable part
of his career has been the people.
"I'll miss the people most of all.
Perth has been a great place to
work, congenial people who work
hard at their responsibilities but
take time for some humor to lighten
the moment," he said. "I'll also
miss the networking and com-
panionship of my former colleagues
at the OMAFRA office. I'll par-
ticularly feel the loss of the tremen-
dous secretarial support that I've
received over the years."
What does Scott think it takes to
farm in the future?
"I think that hasn't changed.
Farmers need enthusiasm, belief
and goals. They need to know the
importance of keeping good finan-
cial and production records. And
it's still important to do a good job
on various production practices."
Pillsbury in conjunction with NASA
to guarantee the safety of
astronauts' food in space. It works
by shifting the focus from inspec-
tion to auditing - identifying critical
points where food safety could be
in question in the production
process, controlling hazards at these
points and verifying that the system
is working properly.
Under the old approach, testing
focused on the finished product.
While this system protected the
consumer from contaminated food,
it led to needless waste. HACCP
helps to correct potential problems
before and during food processing
rather than afterwards, saving the
industry both time and money.
"The key is prevention," says
Tom Graham, the Ontario represen-
tative for Agriculture and Agri -
Food Canada's Food Safety Enhan-
cement Program (FSEP). "With a
"The key to
prevention... With
a HACCP-based
system, potential
food -safety
hazards are
controlled
throughout the
process."
HACCP - based system. potential
food -safety hazards are controlled
throughout the process."
In co-operation with the agri-food
industry and other federal
departments, Agriculture and Agri -
Food Canada has introduced the
HACCP approach through FSEP.
Many federally registered proces-
sing companies already had the
elements of HACCP in place. The
government program simply
provided guidelines to formalize the
process.
"Shifting to HACCP wasn't a big
deal for Caravelle," Usborne says.
"We were collecting microbial data
and could already identify the
critical control points. But then was
no formal process in place. 11 wait
an easy shift once we had the
guidelines. And the result has been
improved customer satisfaction."
Graham concurs. '"these firms tlld
not jump on the HACCP
bandwagon simply because they
though Canada was one day going
to issue a HACCP regulation. They
established their programs because
HACCP is the best means to
guarantee the safety of their food
product."
But Usborne concedes the process
can't stop there.
"You're only as good as your
supplier. That s why we now re-
quire that all ow suppliers also
have a HACCP-based system in
place. It's like a trickle-down effect.
And while they're not all 100 per
cent complete, they're well on their
waYY "
lhitler AMM►Iwllture and Al{rl•Food
('ana!N's Hvo mar development and
impleinrnlalbdit h. hale 11ACCP•
1 «NI I IMlm a 'Nadu he In place In
all sMtl1,Npl piol,loted ertahlish.
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