Building a Stronger Food Safety System Starts with HACCP Training
For many food businesses, HACCP training is something that gets checked off a list during certification or when a new employee joins the food safety team. In reality, it’s one of the most valuable investments you can make in your food safety system.
HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) gives you a structured way to identify where food safety hazards could occur and how to control them before they become problems. Whether you’re producing food for local retailers or exporting internationally, HACCP helps you build a preventive approach to food safety instead of reacting after something goes wrong.
Meeting Regulatory and Customer Expectations
In Canada, many food processors, importers, and exporters are required under the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) to have a written Preventive Control Plan (PCP). Those plans are built on HACCP principles, so the people developing and maintaining them need to understand how HACCP works in practice.
Formal HACCP training is also expected under most food safety certification programs. GFSI-recognized standards, including BRCGS and SQF, require HACCP team members to be trained in line with Codex Alimentarius principles. During certification audits, auditors will ask for proof that the HACCP team has received that training.
More Than Just Compliance
Meeting regulatory and certification requirements matters, but the biggest value of HACCP training shows up back at your facility.
Teams that understand the “why” behind HACCP are better at spotting biological, chemical, and physical hazards before they become incidents. They make stronger calls when processes change, and they’re more confident during inspections and audits.
That understanding builds stronger Preventive Control Plans too. Instead of a document that sits on a shelf until audit time, a trained team keeps the PCP current, catches gaps, and makes sure it reflects what’s actually happening on the floor.
Training also builds food safety culture. When employees understand the role they play in producing safe food, food safety becomes a shared responsibility, not just one QA person’s job.
Invest in Your Team
A well-trained HACCP team makes better decisions, builds stronger food safety programs, and shows up with more confidence when customers or regulators come through the door. It’s an investment that keeps paying off long after the course ends.
Stampede Season: Good Food, Good Company
This July, our team traded the office for the Stampede grounds, and we’re already looking forward to next year. We headed to the Taste of Western Canada Awards and event, where we sampled some of the best food and drink Western Canada has to offer. From new products just hitting shelves to old favourites done well, it was a great reminder of how much talent is out there in this industry.
We also made time for the International Agriculture and Agri-Food Reception, always one of our favourite stops during Stampede season. It’s a chance to catch up with clients and familiar faces, and to meet people we hadn’t connected with before, all working in agriculture and food across the country.
Between the samples and the conversations, this year’s Stampede events reminded us why we love this industry.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to stop by and say hello. Until next year!
Product Safety Training
Root Cause Analysis: Oct 15, 2026
Internal Auditor Training: Nov 3-4, 2026
Risk Assessment: Oct 27, 2026
Food Fraud: Dec 3, 2026
Register and find more course dates here:https://foodsafetysolutions.ca/brcgs-courses/
CanadaGAP Training
Understanding the CanadaGAP Program: Oct 6-7, 2026
CanadaGAP Auditor Training: November 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 2026
Interested in in-house training for your team?
Funding Available for Food Processing and Manufacturing Projects
The federal government has opened a new funding window for food processors, manufacturers, and supply chain businesses.
Through the Strategic Response Fund, organizations with 10 or more employees can apply for $10 million to $50 million per project to support food and beverage processing, food-grade packaging, industrial manufacturing systems, and agricultural inputs.
The first intake window closes August 4, 2026.
Free Accelerator for Women, Gender-Diverse, and Two-Spirit Food Entrepreneurs
FEAD Canada’s Seed to Scale 2.0 Accelerator is a free, Canada-wide program built for early-stage food and beverage founders who are ready to get retail-ready and scale.
Sessions run online every Monday morning starting August 10, 2026, and cover the ground that trips up a lot of new founders: recipe development, packaging and labelling, food safety and traceability, co-packing, branding, and sales.
The program wraps with a pitch competition, where participants compete for prizes to fund their next stage of growth.
Applications close July 31, 2026.
FREE WEBINAR: Front Of Package Labelling For Food Brands
We’re partnering with VenturePark again for an interactive webinar on Canada’s new Front-of-Package (FOP) nutrition symbol requirements. Amy Hosking and Marlis Bens will walk through what’s changing under the Food and Drug Regulations and what it means for your labels.
This session is for food and beverage brand owners across Canada. Bring your questions. We’ll use real examples and leave room to talk through your specific products.
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September 9, 2026
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11:00 – 12:00 Mountain Time
SQF Edition 10 Is Here — What Do You Need to Know?
The latest version of the SQF Food Safety Code has arrived. SQF Edition 10 was published in March 2026, bringing updates intended to strengthen food safety systems and better reflect the way food businesses manage risk today.
While Edition 9 remains the audit standard until the GFSI benchmarking process is complete (with audits to Edition 10 expected to begin no earlier than January 2027), now is the time to start preparing. Waiting until your next audit is approaching can make the transition much more stressful than it needs to be.
Some of the key changes include:
- Greater focus on food safety culture — Sites will be expected to have a more structured approach to assessing, monitoring, and improving food safety culture within their organization.
- Increased emphasis on change management — Companies will need to ensure that changes to processes, equipment, products, or operations are evaluated for potential food safety impacts before implementation.
- Updates to audit scoring and evaluation — Changes to how requirements are weighted will place greater importance on critical food safety practices and effective implementation.
The best approach? Start early. Performing a gap assessment against the new Code, identifying potential gaps, and involving your team now will give you time to make improvements, rather than rushing to make changes before an audit.
Reach out to us at to chat about reviewing your SQF systems for compliance.
