News
CanadaGAP Food Safety Manuals updated for 2023

Updated versions of the CanadaGAP Food Safety Manuals have now been released.

• Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Manual, Version 10.0
• Greenhouse Product Manual, Version 10.0

For certification purposes, the new manuals will take effect on April 1, 2023. A corresponding update to the CanadaGAP audit checklist will be issued before that date.

To help with the transition, the following resources can be found on the CanadaGAP website.

• Updated manuals (free download)
• Documents outlining the main changes to the manuals
• Revisions documents tracking the changes from the previous version of the manuals
• Document summarizing commodity-specific differences
• Chart outlining which sections of the manual are applicable to different types of operations (i., production, packing, storing, repacking, wholesaling, brokerage)
• PowerPoint presentation on the main changes

The most significant change for Version 10.0 of the manuals is the expanded scope for the Greenhouse Food Safety Manual. In partnership with the Fruit and Vegetable Growers of Canada (FVGC) and aided by funding from AAFC, CanadaGAP expanded the scope of the Greenhouse Food Safety program. Starting April 1, operations producing many more greenhouse-grown crops will be able to seek certification under the CanadaGAP program – such as companies producing and packing melons, berries, various root vegetables, cruciferous crops and legumes in a controlled environment. This scope expansion required many additions to the Greenhouse manual to account for the new commodities.

 What are some of the other main changes?

Other changes to both the Fruit and Vegetable and the Greenhouse manuals include:

• Section 8 – Hoses must be flushed out with potable water.
• Section 9 – A variety of materials must be considered as ‘cleaning and maintenance materials’; thus some requirements were changed to include these types of materials.
• Section 13 – Storage locations for ‘cleaning and maintenance materials’ are now considered controlled-access areas.
• Section 23 – Some additions were made regarding the information being recorded for the recall team.
• Forms C/D – Additional text was added to ensure it is clear that working effects and cloth gloves must be laundered by the operation.

All types of operations should refer to the revisions documents and main changes documents found on the CanadaGAP website. Changes were made based on user requests, to account for new science, to align with changes in government regulations and Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarking requirements, and to clarify interpretation of existing requirements.