From October 27 to November 16, 2007, the Small Farmers Adapting to Global Markets Project (SFAGM) held a training workshop on assurance of farm food safety and quality in Canada. Canadian International Grains Institute (CIGI) sponsored and organized this training. The participants of this workshop came from Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, State Food and Drug Administration and Certification and Accreditation Administration of China, as well as the pilot sites of SFAGM Project in Sichuan and Inner Mongolia.

In China as well as other countries, food safety has been a very hot topic today, and consumers are showing an increasing concern for food safety in China. Since its inception, the SFAGM Project, which is very far-sighted, has emphasized the assurance of food safety as an important framework of project implementation. This training is based on the situation of farm product quality and safety in China, and is designed to help Chinese small farmers to increase the farm product quality and the food safety from the sources, and enhance small farmers’ market competitiveness.

This training was centered on Canada’s practice in the assurance of farm food safety and quality. The trainers included government officials, university professors, and related experts from different sectors of the industry. The training was conducted at two stages. At the first stage was a general introduction to Canada’s food safety system, agricultural development, government opinions about farm food safety, the role of non-governmental organizations (mainly industrial associations) in food safety, the principle adopted by Canada for control of farm food safety, namely, the principle of HACCP, as well as the roles of universities and research institutes in the assurance of food safety.

According to the needs of the supply chain pilot sites of SFAGM Project in China, the second stage of the training falls into four subjects: farm food safety assurance of vegetables and potatoes, farm food safety assurance of canola, farm food safety assurance of milk and farm food safety assurance of pork. In the second week was an introduction to farm food safety assurance of vegetables and potatoes and the farm food safety assurance of canola. In the third week was an introduction to farm food safety assurance of milk and farm food safety assurance of pork, and the trainees could select subjects of their own interest. Accompanied by food safety experts, the trainees visited some farms, exchanged viewpoints with farmers or food safety experts over the food safety issues of their own interest, and then, the experts gave an account of food safety assurance in related industries and organized the trainees to discuss. After the study of the subjects was over, the trainees combined what they had learnt with the Chinese reality, and developed a plan of farm quality assurance for four agricultural products respectively.

During the three-week training, there were theoretical explanations, field visits, and very intensive discussions between highly-experienced experts and trainees. The trainees generally agreed that they had benefited a lot, and said that they would apply what they had learnt into the practice of food safety in China, and meanwhile, they would let more people know what they had learnt in Canada. It was during this training session that the State Council of the People’s Republic of China passed Law of the People’s Republic of China on Food Safety (Draft) on October 31, 2007.