Quebec recognizes CRFA’s food safety training program

(Aug 24/10) Those who have passed CRFA’s National Food Safety Training Program (NFSTP) are now officially certified to work in Quebec. As the first national food safety program to be accepted by the province, the NFSTP now allows operators across Canada to implement a system-wide training approach with significant cost savings.

A few years ago, CRFA launched the NFSTP to provide both independent and chain members with a food safety training program for their food handlers and managers. Until now, the program has been recognized in all provinces except Quebec – this exclusion meant operators had to incur extra costs to retrain Quebec staff under a similar program specific to the province.

In numerous meetings with MAPAQ (Ministere de l’Agriculture, des Pecheries et de l’Alimentation du Quebec), CRFA pushed for Quebec’s acceptance of the NFSTP.  CRFA also argued that rejecting the NFSTP program runs counter to a workforce mobility agreement signed between Ontario and Quebec.

Following these lobbying efforts, MAPAQ now officially recognizes CRFA’s NFSTP as equivalent to the MAPAQ food safety training program, including training and exams for food safety managers and the Train-the-Trainer program.

NFSTP-certified employees in Quebec will get a certification acknowledging equivalency to MAPAQ’s training program.

Currently, this recognition does not bring any modification to the ruling. It is an administrative procedure valid until a new regulation is tabled or for the duration established by MAPAQ.

MAPAQ will also evaluate other programs in the fall, notably BASICS.fst and ADVANCED.fst.