Alberta Split Costs with Verifed Producers
US - Alberta beef producers who choose to become verified in 2008 through the Verified Beef Production (VBP) program, Canada’s beef on-farm food safety program, can now access funding that will pay for half of the audit fee.
17 April 2008
1 minute read
“We believe the audit funding will not only help producers in Alberta defray the cost of an independent audit, but will also encourage as many producers as possible to become registered VBP operations,” says Eileen Leslie, Alberta Beef Quality Starts Here (ABQSH) provincial coordinator.
The audit is conducted by an independent third party trained in audit procedures. The cow/calf audit fee is $500. The audit fee for a feedlot with medicated feeds is $1,000. Half of each amount will be covered by ABQSH if undertaken in 2008. All operations that become verified must attend a VBP workshop, implement the program ‘must dos’ and participate in an on-farm verification audit of food-safety related practices.
“Producers who have an on-farm audit in 2008 could potentially not be subject to another on-farm audit for eight years,” says Leslie. “Once an operation is audited, the program is designed with a cycle of record assessments or self-declarations annually over the subsequent seven years.”
VBP verification provides immediate and long-term benefits for Alberta beef producers that include:
- proof of responsible actions
- improved awareness of food safety risks
- market readiness should it be required
- improved use of animal health products
- a basis for training staff/family members
- verification can be used as a tool to develop branded products
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