Industry Meetings
QSH along with OCA staff have met with Packers and Retailers, including the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, to discuss provincial implementation of the program. These meetings were successful in that we were able to explain our program, understand how the food chain works and most importantly establish lines of communications with key individuals in the industry. In each meeting we reached agreement to establish an Implementation Committee. The committee will include two board members and will be charged with maintaining contact with key partners and commencing discussions for strategies regarding implementation timelines and awareness campaigns.

Working with OCFB
We have received endorsement from the Ontario Corn Fed Beef program’s Steering Committee to proceed with on-farm re-certification of existing operations. Over one hundred farms are due to be audited under this program. Currently, about 3,000 head per month are going into the program. Work will commence shortly on delivering workshops and audits. OCFB already has a food safety component, but with the addition of QSH-VBP, documented veterinary protocols and increased verification will be added where necessary.

Technical Recognition
A five-day Face-to-Face Technical Review of our program in April was followed up by many hours of revisions. This process ensured our HACCP model met CFIA approval standards.

Official Recognition occurred on November 6 at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair when CFIA staff presented the letter of recognition to Stan Eby, CCA President. Similar kick off events occurred at Agribition and Farm Fair, thus exhibiting the true National scope of our program. Included in these events was the release of our new name and logo…Verified Beef Production …VBP.

During the year we also maintained our producer presence through continued workshops, farm visits and audits. Our current levels put us at 54 audited producers and 440 through the workshop format.

Producer materials
Numerous Calving Books, Sharps Containers and Record Keeping Calendars have been distributed. We are pleased to enter into a second printing with generous assistance from Elanco of our New and Improved Calendar. This new one has a two-year coverage, is a National format and includes Age Verification Fields.

For more information on the program, contact Dan Ferguson at 1-705-924-3225 or dan@qualitystartshere.on.ca