Industry Issues

Food and Beverage Ontario works with government and industry stakeholders to solve concerns and address public policy issues on behalf of our members.

Our strategies often involve collaboration with national and provincial organizations, advocacy, submissions, and participation in various projects and forums.

In addition to the industry priorities presented by the COVID-19 global pandemic, Food and Beverage Ontario has taken a leadership role on a number of issues and initiatives.

Resource Productivity & Recovery Authority and Blue Box

The Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority is the regulator mandated by the Government of Ontario to enforce the province’s circular economy laws. The Authority administers the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 (RRCEA) and the Waste Diversion Transition Act, 2016 (WDTA), and their associated regulations including overseeing the Blue Box Program and its wind up between 2023 and 2025. There are a number of changes in process that will transition the Ontario food and beverage processing industry towards participation in a circular economy.

To learn more, visit the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority

Grocery Code of Conduct

A strong food system is essential to Canadians. To ensure a robust food system, many stakeholders across the supply chain support the need for a code of practice for Canada. To reflect the unique and distinct nature of our food system as compared to that of other countries, we believe that any Code of Practice must be developed in Canada for Canada.

The purpose of a Canadian Food Industry Code of Practice is to promote and support good faith dealings and responsible commercial conduct along the food supply chain by:

• Ensuring transparency and contractual certainty in all commercial transactions.
• Ensuring best practice reciprocity throughout the supply chain.
• Promoting fair and ethical dealings in contract negotiations, particularly where there is a significant disparity in negotiating power between the parties.
• Ensuring equitable distribution of food supply.
• Providing supports for small and mid-sized parties to commercial transactions.
• Providing an effective, fair, and applicable dispute resolution process.

To learn more about a Grocery Code of Conduct for Canada’s food supply chain follow this link to our partners at Food and Beverage Canada.

Workforce Development

Food and Beverage Ontario is the leadership in workforce development for Ontario’s food and beverage processing industry working with industry partners, training and skills development leaders. Our program such as CareersNOW!, Taste Your Future and Frontline Food Facts, in addition to projects on implementing automation and providing multilingual training, are part of a comprehensive solution to solving the immediate and future labour gap of 25,000 individuals by 2025.

Food Convergence Innovation Canada — Food and Beverage Supply Chain Project

Food and Beverage Ontario is a partner in the FCI-Canada project announced in August 2021. This important initiative is being led by McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics in collaboration with Food and Beverage Canada, CTAQ, Food & Beverage Atlantic, Food & Beverage Manitoba, BC Food & Beverage, Bivizio, Protein Industries
Canada and the University of Ottawa.

FCI-Canada will deliver a national, sector-wide platform that will link Canada’s food and beverage supply chain by supporting companies in posting and searching for specific products, services, and partners within given geographic parameters.