CanAgPlus, the body that administers the CanadaGAP food safety program, will be holding its annual general meeting on November 29, 2021 at 1 pm EST.  A few highlights have been released by Heather Gale, executive director. 

2021 proved a challenging year to maintain compliance with increasingly stringent food safety expectations. CanadaGAP underwent re-benchmarking to the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) requirements over the course of 2020-2021, and as a result introduced a number of changes to the program that raised the bar on achieving certification.

In spring 2021, operations requiring GFSI-recognized certificates had to address all non-conformities raised during the audit before they could be certified. Corrective action plans became more commonplace among CanadaGAP program participants. In the fall, new requirements came into effect relative to unannounced audit requirements. More detailed information about these changes is available on the CanadaGAP website at www.canadagap.ca.

Despite the many challenges to the industry resulting from COVID, the one-year period ending August 31, 2021 has resulted in the highest ever average audit score for CanadaGAP program participants. Based on preliminary audit results (before corrective actions were implemented), the overall average of 94.61 per cent was measured across participants of all CanadaGAP certification options.

While consistent with results over the last six years, average audit scores in the past year are slightly higher across all commodity groups except for potatoes and tree and vine fruit.

For more information on how to participate in the virtual annual general meeting, link here: www.canadagap.ca

Source:  CanadaGAP