Canada’s egg farmers have got in on the federal program backing national-level commodity groups for development of traceability standards, to the tune of over $800,000.
The funding, pledged Wednesday from the federal Canadian Integrated Food Safety Initiative (CIFSI), is meant for the Canadian Egg Industry Traceability System (CEITS).
Egg Farmers of Canada (EFC) is to use the funds to draft standards for processes and operating procedures to trace movement of eggs, pullets and egg-laying birds. The money is also expected to go to help establish database requirements for egg and bird traceability information required by government.
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EFC, which bills itself as the first organization in Canada’s poultry industry to move on the development of a traceability system, got confirmation of the CIFSI funding during its annual meeting Wednesday in Ottawa.
CIFSI, delivered nationally by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, includes the Canadian Industry Traceability Infrastructure program, which invests in development of industry-led systems such as the Egg Farmers’ CEITS.
Systems funded under the program are to be used to collect and verify identification and movement of data, and to “accelerate and increase industry’s tracking and tracing capacity.”
Systems funded can be limited to “critical points” along the supply chain — for example, strictly livestock — or can be “full-chain” from farm to fork.
CIFSI’s other component, Food Safety Systems Development, backs organizations in developing national, government-recognized on-farm and/or post-farm HACCP-based food safety systems.
