On April 8, 1998, a small group of Canadian hog industry stakeholders and government representatives gathered in Ottawa to announce the launch of the Canadian Quality Assurance Program, an on-farm food safety program for Canadian hog producers. Shortly after that announcement, the first farms were enrolled.

The development of the program had begun in the fall of 1995, and over the next two and a half years, producers, veterinarians, processors and production specialists from across the country worked together to come to a consensus on a Canadian program that would be based upon science, rather than the whims of the marketplace.

While 2007 participation numbers have yet to be completed, registration data at the end of 2006 reflected a little over 7000 production sites representing 68% of all hogs born in Canada and 95% of all hogs processed in Canada.

The launch of the program represented a reinforcement of the idea that Canadian hog farmers are producing not only an animal, but a food product, and that these producers are committed to taking all the necessary steps on farm to produce a safe product. The CQA program offered an opportunity for producers to have a third-party assessment of their production practices, following a common standard across the country, a practice that was being adopted throughout European countries and that was being requested by major pork importing countries.

Despite a rocky start to the program, with hog prices crashing during the fall of 1998, producers recognized the importance of CQA and that this was the direction that the worldwide hog industry was taking. Canadian pork had an excellent reputation as a high-quality and safe product and the CQA program would support that and offer evidence to a world that no longer worked on a handshake.

While CQA had been piloted on a number of farms across the country, the early days, as with the beginning of any program, reflected areas that needed improvement to make the program as user-friendly as possible and as flexible as possible to meet the needs of the various producers and production types across the country while still maintaining program integrity on the world stage. These changes were made and built upon over the years to strengthen the program and support the producers who took part in it.

From early in the development of the program, there was interest in having the support of the federal government in recognizing on-farm food safety programs. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency worked together with commodity groups to develop a recognition program. This recognition program was implemented only after the CQA program had been in operation for some time, but was used as a tool to review the program content for updating and submission to CFIA for technical review. In 2004, the Canadian Pork Council and CFIA announced that the CQA program had successfully completed technical review and program materials were re-launched with an updated look, a new layout and a website.

CQA program materials continue to be regularly reviewed and updated. This program is very much a living one that is constantly striving to meet the needs of producers and the marketplace, to respond to updates in scientific understanding and government regulations. During this most recent downturn in the Canadian hog industry, the CQA program continues to be a part of the day-to-day operations of farms across the country and an important tool in managing hog farms as well as demonstrating Canadian producer commitment to providing a safe and high quality product to Canadians and to the world.

For more information on the CQA program, you can visit the website at www.cqa-aqc.com or contact your provincial delivery agent.