Food Safety
BCfresh growers contribute to the over 6,000 acres dedicated to root vegetables. All our produce is distributed daily through a brand new warehouse facility located in Delta. The facility is equipped with modern coolers and handling equipment to ensure BC consumers receive the best from BCfresh farming families.
BCfresh growers are leaders in progressive farming, harvesting, grading and packing techniques. We are also recognized for our development and implementation of environmentally sensitive growing practices and sustainable agriculture technology based on good science.
Our growers take pride in providing consumers with safe, high quality, nutritious vegetables. One way our growers are doing this is by adopting compliance to the CanadaGAP audit and certification food safety program for producers, storage intermediary and packers.
CanadaGAP
The CanadaGAP Program is an on-farm food safety program for producers, packers and storage intermediaries of horticultural crops. It is designed to help implement effective food safety procedures for a growers operation. Six crop-specific manuals, developed by the horticultural industry and reviewed for technical soundness by Canadian government officials (CFIA), are designed for growers and packers implementing Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs). The manuals are based on the seven basic principles of the internationally-recognized HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) approach. The program has been benchmarked to, and officially recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI). The program is administered and maintained by the Canadian Horticultural Council (CHC), with audit and certification services delivered by an accredited Certification Body.
Program Certification
Certification is the term used by the CHC to describe the determination by a qualified authority that a growers operation meets the standard and is being maintained on an ongoing basis. This involves having a third party auditor from the Certification Body come to the operation, review OFFS manual(s) and related records, visit the facilities and interview the operator and staff, and assess conformance to the CHC OFFS Audit Checklist. Since the Audit Checklist covers all six modules, multi-crop producers need only one audit. Once the grower passes the audit, they will be certified to the Program.
Certification indicates that the grower has in place for his operation a system of procedures to minimize the risk of contamination to product. The Certification Body will certify the grower’s processes, not the product. The auditor gathers evidence to attest to the ongoing maintenance of the grower’s food safety system, rather than simply gaining a snapshot of the operation at a given point in time. BCfresh requires its growers to undertake this audit annually.
BCfresh Recipe Club
To receive fun, fresh new recipes regularly, sign up now! Just fill out the following fields below.
Periodically, we have specials at local stores and would like to keep you updated on special features at the store where you shop.