Food Safety

Cheesemakers must be committed to food safety at every stage of the process — from sourcing supplies to shipping the final product. Contamination can occur at any stage in the process.

• OMAFRA’s HACCP Programs
• Good Manufacturing Practices
• Sanitation Program
• General Health and Safety Requirements

OMAFRA’s HACCP Advantage Program

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is an internationally recognized system that minimizes the risk of food-safety hazards through a specific, systematic and science-based approach. It complements traditional inspection and quality control procedures.

HACCP is designed to detect potential hazards — biological, chemical and physical — before they occur by evaluating and monitoring plant processes. It also involves implementing control measures to reduce or eliminate the chance of hazards occurring.

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) now offers a three-step series of HACCP programs. Each one builds on the one before, so you can pick the level of food safety management that meets your needs:

GMP Advantage covers control programs, training, operational controls and environmental controls.

HACCP Advantage includes the GMP Advantage components, plus eight HACCP form plans: product descriptions, ingredients and incoming materials, flow diagrams, plant schematics, hazard description and critical control point determination, flow diagrams with critical control points, uncontrolled hazards, and the HACCP matrix.

HACCP Advantage Plus+ allows you to trace ingredients and finished products back to the immediate supplier and forward to the next customer. It also gives you processes to protect your ingredients from tampering, theft or deliberate contamination.

Contact OMAFRA for more information, or to order free copies of the HACCP Advantage Program Manual, Version 2 or the HACCP Advantage Guidebook.

Good Manufacturing Practices

Your plant should have its own set of good manufacturing practices, which include:

• hand washing
• use and storage of clothing, footwear, headwear, equipment and utensils
• health and injury status
• proper traffic flows
• chemical use
• identification of allergens (if appropriate)
   

Your best guideline for operating a food processing plant in Canada is the Code of Practice, General Principles of Food Hygiene for Use by the Food Industry in Canada, which will help you comply with the requirements of Canadian food law.

The Wisconsin-based Dairy Practices Council has also developed good practice guidelines specifically for dairy-related operations, including on-farm processing and small plant processing.

Sanitation Program

Your plant should have a customized sanitation program to guide and train your employees in good sanitary practices. The Quality Assurance chapter in OMAFRA’s Your Guide to Food Processing in Ontario includes some basic information on what this should cover.

Government inspectors can be a good source of advice. The Ontario Food Protection Association and the Ontario Dairy Council may also be able to refer to a private firm that can help you establish or assess a sanitation program.

General Health and Safety Requirements

Your plant must meet the general health and food safety requirements laid out in Ontario’s Health Promotion and Protection Act and Health Canada’s Food and Drug Act.