Ontario Carrier Drives Food Safety

Erb First to Adopt Shipper Friendly Program The Erb Group of Companies understands food safety – after all, the international LTL carrier with headquarters in New Hamburg, Ont. not only specializes in hauling food, but recently became the second carrier in Canada, and the first in Ontario, to earn a Certificate of HACCP Compliance. The certificate and the certification process is the result of a food safety program recently developed by the Canadian Trucking Alliance, with funding from the federal government and in cooperation with trucking companies (Erb was one) and Kasar Canada Ltd., a company that specializes in developing food safety programs.

HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points, a program endorsed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the US National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Food (NACMCF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), among others. It can be implemented by all parties in the supply chain, literally covering “field to fork.” Its purpose is preventative – to identify potential hazards that are most likely to cause illness and look to control or prevent those hazards.

To achieve HACCP certification under CTA’s Trucking Food Safety program, a carrier must conduct a detailed analysis of its operations, put in place the necessary controls and monitoring procedures, and undergo an annual audit by Kasar Canada Ltd.. It means the carrier knows, and keeps a written account of, when, how, by whom and with what the trailer carrying your product was washed and what temperature it was kept at for every minute of the haul. And it means that you, as a shipper, have a way to control the quality of your product upon arrival, as well as to extend its shelf life.

Never mind that, in a world where food-borne illnesses (think e-coli and avian flu) are increasingly in the media spotlight, liability is also a growing concern.“Undertaking the rigorous audit process to receive HAACP certification is not required for transport companies yet,” says Wendell Erb, general manager of the Erb Group of Companies. “But it is a further service to our customers, assuring them of the finest possible protection for their food shipments. Erb’s customers include household names within the food manufacturing industry, whose reputations rely on the expertise of our refrigerated transport to maintain the integrity of their products.

Being able to deliver above and beyond our customers’ expectations is something we always strive for at the Erb Group and having this level of strict quality assurance is just good business.”

Indeed, good business practices are what makes trucking food both safe and reliable, and just one more reason to underline the trucking industry’s commitment to maintaining the very highest standard: “HACCP is the wave of the future,” says Ron Lennox, CTA’s vice president of regulatory affairs.“We wanted to ensure that the trucking industry was ready to meet the increasing demands of our clients. We believe the program developed by the food safety experts at Kasar Canada Ltd, which has been pilot tested by carriers under the guidance of federal officials, will meet or exceed any food shippers’ expectations.”

For more information on the Trucking Food Safety Program contact Kasar Canada Ltd. at www.kasarcanada.com or 1-800-316-7313 or CTA’s Ron Lennox at 1-613-236-9426 (ext. 2). n