Stakeholders in the Canadian fresh produce industry, the Canadian Horticultural Council (CHC), the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors (CCGD) and the Canadian Federation of Independant Grocers (CFIG) have agreed that food safety should be a non-competitive matter. It was determined that the best means of achieving this is to have credible HACCP-based national food safety programs all along the supply chain, that they would recognize each others' national food safety programs and that they would promote food safety equally between domestic fresh produce and imported fresh produce. To achieve this final objective, the joint partners established a project to evaluate and assess the Canadian fresh produce food safety programs for grower/packers and repacker/wholesalers with those available in countries from which Canada imports. 

The resulting comprehensive study and report provides a solid base for promoting food safety programming equally between domestic and imported fresh produce by providing comparisons between Canadian fresh produce food safety programs at the farm level and at the packer/wholesale level of the supply chain with those programs/standards available in countries from which Canada imports, and is seen as the starting point to move towards recognition and acceptance of comparable food safety programs within the fresh produce industry.

There are several challenges for the fresh produce industry in Canada. This is in part due to our limiting climate and limited number of suitable products, due to our environmental constraints (we do not produce citrus as we do not have the right climate) and increasing diversification and demand from consumers for more of different kinds of produce (i.e. starfruit, daikon, plantains, etc.). In order to ensure a year-round supply of safe, fresh produce for consumers, product is imported into Canada. In fact, $3 out of every $4 spent on fresh produce is spent on imported produce. Overall, having comparable food safety programs that are recognized and subscribed to by the entire food supply chain will ultimately reinforce practices that contribute to the production, processing, transportation, selling and cooking of safe food within Canada. The possibility of establishing 'reciprocal' equivalency recognitions will help to further trade and support a fair marketplace, where food safety will no longer be a bargaining chip. However, developing consensus along a commodity supply chain, based upon mutual recognition and support, is the first step of a long path. 

This report is available free of charge to everyone.