New food practices CD available

By Gary Sliworsky
OMAFRA Rep.

In response to heightened consumer awareness about food safety, OMAFRA has created a new user-friendly CD to make food safety practices easier for you. The interactive iGAP CD contains the entire Advantage Good Agricultural Practices manual plus tools to help you implement food safety on any farm.
As a producer, the iGAP CD walks you through how to get started in food safety, evaluate food safety risks and what practices apply on your farm. Advantage iGAP explains on farm food safety in a simple straight forward manner, with great resources to help you.
Advantage Good Agricultural Practices to help you manage risks on your farm
3-2-1 Assessment to compare your current food safety practices against best practices
Can be tailored to any farm, and supports all food safety programs
Customizable procedure and record templates provide proof of your ongoing commitment to food safety
Videos on water sanitation to demonstrate proper pre and post harvest water use
Traceability success stories featuring livestock and crop farmers who talk about how traceability has impacted profitability
Factsheets on irrigation water quality, manure, and many more, to help you find solutions
New Workshops
OMAFRA has a number of new workshops coming to a community near you beginning early in 2011, including Food Safety for Multi-Commodity Farms and Getting Started in Food Safety.
Please check our website at www.ontario.ca/foodsafety for dates and locations.
Other Resources
The Advantage Producer Checklist is a tool that can help you conduct self-audits. It allows you to demonstrate to buyers what food safety practices are in place on your farm.
Contact us
Check our website for the most up-to-date information on any of our products and services, or you can call us at 1-877-424-1300 to get your free copy of the Advantage iGAP CD.

Dates to Remember
Nov. 24 – Rainy River Soil & Crop Improvement Association Annual Meeting, 7:30 p.m., Emo Legion.