Representatives of the Canadian Pork Industry have unveiled details of the new Canadian Pork Excellence Program to customers in Japan.
Last week representatives of the Canadian Pork Council and Canada Pork International met in Tokyo with Japanese industry and government representatives to outline details of the new Canadian Pork Excellence Program.
Canadian Pork Council Executive Director John Ross explains CPE is an umbrella for a number of stand alone programs.
The Canadian Pork Excellence Program is actually a regroupment of some existing programs that we have at the Canadian Pork Council that date back in fact to 1999. They started out with the Canadian Quality Assurance Program. As we went along we added in an animal care component in 2012 and a traceability component in 2014.
What the Canadian pork Excellence Program is is a regroupment or an umbrella that sits over all of those on farm activities that Canadian producers undertake in an effort to drive more quality into the hogs that we produce. Its really the three components, CQA, Certified Quality Assurance which is going to be renamed PigSafe, our animal care program which we’re calling PigCare, PigTrace our traceability program and the biosecurity element that we’re going to be further expanding on.
At present it’s part of the PigSafe Program but we’re going to make it a stand alone element in its own right and again it’s a regroupment of these four elements, these four components just under a simple terminology, Canadian Pork Excellence. ~ John Ross, Canadian Pork Council
Ross says when we talk to our customers, whether they’re here in Canada or the various export markets we ship to, Canadian Pork Excellence is shorthand for the high quality of hogs that are produced in Canada.
