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Applied Research, Pilot Projects and Demonstrations

Purpose of Project Category

Projects will focus on building the industry's capacity to recognize and manage their own risks and take advantage of market opportunities by providing support for food safety and traceability applied research, pilots and demonstrations. Industry is encouraged to self-identify which research and/or pilots are appropriate to meet their needs and to clearly demonstrate how this will be advanced through their project.

Target Audience

Partners that represent or support small and medium-sized businesses in food safety risk reduction efforts

Eligible Projects

Projects can encompass one or more of the following for Food Safety or Traceability:

  • Validation studies/Proof of concept
  • Pilot projects
  • Demonstrations
  • Applied Research

Examples of Projects

  • Demonstrations of washwater treatment in an operation for a number of similar operations
  • Group validation study of meat plants using similar hurdle processes
  • Research or pilots investigating tools to support identification, mitigation or prevention of food fraud

Project Category Priorities

  • Projects that demonstrate they are supporting activities that fill an existing gap (e.g., not duplicating existing research)
  • Projects that clearly demonstrate broad impact (benefits beyond applicants)
  • Projects that address an identified risk and improve market access
  • Projects that can demonstrate they are addressing challenges and emerging issues related to food safety and traceability, with an explanation of how this relates to Ontario's agri-food and agri-products sector
  • Projects that include an outreach plan for dissemination of information (e.g., clearly outlining how the sector/broader industry will benefit as a result of the intended outcomes of the project)
  • Projects that address the specific needs of small business (<100 employees)
  • Priority will be given to those commodities that possess the greatest food safety risk, including but not limited to:
    • Ready-to-eat (RTE) lettuce and leafy greens eaten raw (arugula, spinach, baby salad greens, other mixed lettuces)
    • Broad-leaf herbs (basil, cilantro, parsley)
    • RTE minimally-processed fruit and vegetables (e.g., peeled, cut, washed, dried, packaged)
    • RTE meat products (e.g., pate, meat spreads, frankfurters, deli meats, beef or poultry jerky, etc.)
    • Un-ripened or fresh soft cheese (e.g., cottage cheese, cream cheese, feta, ricotta, etc.)
    • Unpasteurized fruit/vegetable juice (e.g., apple cider)
  • Poultry or beef slaughter or processing dry/semi-dry fermented sausages
  • Priority for traceability projects will be given to those supporting the following species: cattle, sheep, goats, cervids, bison and pig

Eligible Activities

  • Investigating methods, processes or applications to mitigate food safety risks or enhance traceability
  • Enhanced efficiencies and new technologies to capture and share data related to traceability
  • Disseminating best practices, outcomes and learnings derived from pilot projects, validation studies or demonstrations

Ineligible Activities

  • Piloting and demonstrating solutions or systems that are not in alignment with Codes of Practice or recognized programs
  • Creation of new food safety standards

See Terms and Conditions

Group Food Safety Program Adoption

Purpose of Project Category

Projects that focus on building the industry's capacity to recognize and manage their own risks and take advantage of market opportunities by providing support for adoption of food safety programs. This project category offers flexibility to industry to self-identify their best approaches to adopting food safety programs (e.g., partnerships between similar operations to enlist expertise and achieve group certification, development of sector-specific resources, etc.).

Target Audience

Partners that represent or support small and medium-sized businesses are strongly encouraged to apply to support food safety risk reduction efforts

Eligible Projects

Projects that support adoption of food safety programs

Examples of Projects

  • Implementation of group certification under a food safety program (e.g., Canada GAP), including internal auditor training, a group management system, and an internal auditing system
  • Qualified professional expertise supporting a group of growers to adopt a food safety program
  • Partnerships that represent a new and expanding farm sector to support equipment purchases necessary for the sector to improve food safety practices on farm

Project Category Priorities

  • Projects that can demonstrate they are addressing challenges and emerging issues related to food safety, with an explanation of how this relates to Ontario's agri-food and agri-products sector
  • Projects that include a clearly defined plan for the project, including how applicants will work to achieve food safety benefits
  • Projects that include an outreach plan for dissemination of information (e.g., clearly outlining how the sector/broader industry will benefit as a result of the intended outcomes of the project)
  • Projects that address the specific needs of small businesses (<100 employees)
  • Projects that clearly demonstrate broad impact (benefits beyond applicants)

Eligible Activities

  • First time group audit/certification against existing national or international programs
  • Activities directly related to the group adoption of existing national or international programs
  • Sector-specific resources and tools where specifically related to program adoption
  • Training to implement programs (i.e. development of training and/or first-time training to get programs up and running)

Ineligible Activities

  • Re-certification audits or re-verification of existing programs
  • Development of food safety programs for individual businesses where not part of a partnership with other businesses
  • Creation of new food safety standards

See Terms and Conditions

Skills Development and Training

Purpose of Project Category

Projects will focus on building the industry's capacity to recognize and manage their own risks and take advantage of market opportunities by providing support for food safety or traceability training. Industry is encouraged to self-identify which training and approach is most appropriate to meet their needs and to clearly demonstrate how this will be advanced through their project.

Target Audience

Partners that represent or support small and medium-sized enterprises in traceability or food safety risk reduction efforts.

Eligible Projects

Projects can encompass one or more of the following:

  • Outreach strategies
  • Skills development and training
  • Knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing
  • Needs assessments
  • Workshops

Examples of Projects

  • Developing and/or delivering training for a sector where food safety and/or traceability training gaps exists
  • Developing and/or delivering training to address shared food safety risks
  • Providing a learning opportunity to address a skill or training gap on a particular emerging issue or opportunity

Project Category Priorities

  • Projects that demonstrate they are supporting activities that fill an existing gap (e.g., not duplicating current training offerings)
  • Projects that clearly demonstrate broad impact (benefits beyond applicants)
  • Projects that address an identified risk and improve market access
  • Projects that support a broad strategy, taking a sector-wide approach to information sharing and learning
  • Priority for food safety projects will be given to those commodities that possess the greatest food safety risk, including:
    • Ready-to-eat (RTE) lettuce and leafy greens eaten raw (arugula, spinach, baby salad greens, other mixed lettuces)
    • Broad-leaf herbs historically associated with outbreaks (basil, cilantro, parsley)
    • Ready-to-eat (RTE) minimally-processed fruit and vegetables (e.g., peeled, cut, washed, dried, packaged)
    • RTE bagged salads or greens (e.g., salad mix, spinach)
    • RTE meat products (e.g., pate, meat spreads, frankfurters, deli meats, beef or poultry jerky, etc.)
    • Un-ripened or fresh soft cheese (e.g., cottage cheese, cream cheese, feta, ricotta, etc.)
    • Unpasteurized fruit/vegetable juice (e.g., apple cider)
    • Poultry or beef slaughter or processing
    • Dry/semi-dry fermented sausages
  • Priority for traceability projects will be given to those supporting the following species: cattle, sheep, goats, cervids, bison and pig
  • Projects to develop or deliver training on new Regulations (e.g., National Health of Animals Regulations, Safe Food for Canadians)
  • Projects that address the needs of small (<100 employees) and new businesses
  • Projects that include an outreach plan for dissemination of information (e.g., clearly outlining how the sector/broader industry will benefit as a result of the intended outcomes of the project)

Eligible Activities

  • Improving or supporting general awareness and knowledge of food safety risks and implementing traceability systems
  • Developing/conducting a needs assessment or strategy for the creation of education and training materials or for sector outreach
  • Developing education and training materials which align with national/international programs or Codes of Practices where they exist

Ineligible Activities

  • Routine training where it is considered an on-going cost of doing business

See Terms and Conditions

Traceability Solutions Adoption, Information Management and Sharing

Purpose of Project Category

Projects that focus on building the industry's capacity to recognize and manage their own risks and take advantage of market opportunities by providing support for traceability adoption.

Target Audience

Partners representing:

  • Commingling facilities, including assembly yards, sales barns, auction markets, fairs and exhibitions, trucking rest stations, transporters, veterinary clinics and rendering facilities
  • Small businesses (<100 employees) that are implementing or improving traceability

Eligible Projects

  • Implementing traceability solutions that support information management and sharing across groups, supply chains, etc.

Examples of Projects

  • Improving facility level traceability through equipment (e.g., readers, software)
  • Integration of existing product or animal tracking systems infrastructure and software with traceability systems across the supply chain
  • Implementation, development, customization, procurement and training related to electronic information sharing systems, including:
    • Adoption of industry recognized data standards
    • Verification of product attributes
    • Integration of interoperable data systems

Project Category Priorities

  • Projects that support information sharing between/among supply chain/sector
  • Projects that clearly demonstrate broad impact (benefits beyond applicants)
  • Projects that address an identified risk or improve market access, or both
  • Projects that address the needs of small operations (<100 employees)
  • Higher priority for traceability projects that involve the national traceability priority sectors (i.e., cattle, sheep, goats, cervids, bison and pig)
  • Projects that enhance traceability or allow for information to flow from initial carcass/input through to processing
  • Projects that deliver improved capabilities for responding to an emergency and/or ability to mitigate risks through increased supply chain transparency, tracking and recall capability
  • Projects that have the ability to impact multiple industry stakeholders and/or projects that will span a complete supply chain
  • Projects that will result in clearly identified new market opportunities or retention of existing markets

Eligible Activities

  • Traceability technologies and approaches: technologies and systems that enable transparency, tracking and enhanced information sharing in the supply chain and for businesses and/or industry decision making
  • May include the following eligible costs:
    • Initial GS1 Canada costs, limited to one-time company Prefix License cost, initial activation and one-time annual fee with national product registry (does not include initial individual product registrations)
    • Service provider costs (specifically implementation, advisory and training) for traceability systems, limited to the duration of the project only
    • Costs related to supporting/managing Information Sharing Networks (e.g., cloud-based subscription costs, one-time dedicated project staff), limited to the duration of the project only

Ineligible Activities

  • Activities that result in facility level recording/storage of information without providing the ability for further information sharing along the value chain (e.g., paper-based traceability systems)
  • Ongoing activities deemed to be part of normal operations including employee time for data entry and tag application
  • Creating programs/systems where they currently exist in industry
  • RFID readers which have not met Canadian performance standards

See Terms and Conditions