This summer, after a year of lobbying by Food and Beverage Canada and provincial members including Food and Beverage Ontario, the Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) Agriculture and Food Ministers confirmed their support for a code of practice that will improve transparency, predictability, and respect for fair dealing in Canada’s food system and endorsed an industry-led approach to its development. This announcement came on the heels of extensive work by Food and Beverage Canada and CTAQ, working with partners from across the food system – including the Retail Council of Canada, Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, The Québec Food Retailers Association, Canadian Produce Marketing Association, and Association Québécoise (collectively the Canadian Food Industry Alliance) to explore the potential for a collaborative industry approach to developing a code of practice for commercial food transactions. The Alliance released its proposal for an industry developed Code of Practice for Canada’s food industry in June.
Food and Beverage Canada has now been appointed to a Committee made up of ten industry associations tasked with developing the timeline, workplan, and consultation process for development of the Code and its implementation framework. This Committee also includes the Retail Council of Canada, Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, Canadian Produce Marketing Association, Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Canadian Horticulture Council, L’Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), Dairy Processors Association of Canada, Food, Health and Consumer Products and Food Processors of Canada and is expected to complete its work in November.
