Food Safety at All Levels!

Hayter’s Turkey products, is owned and operated by the Hayter family who have lived on the farm for generations and are especially diligent with regards to food handling and safety. Your food is our food and the source of our livelihood.

The production of safe meat involves a large group of dedicated people, a long series of checks, and proactive leadership.

Hayter’s staff and Federal inspectors check each bird processed for health and wholesomeness. Processing lines are operated at speeds which allow the turkeys to be properly eviscerated and carefully inspected. Dressed birds are thoroughly washed before packaging. The processing plant is meticulously maintained with work surfaces being cleaned and sanitized each day. All fresh products are held between -2 to 2 degrees C for up to 5 days and then frozen and kept below -18 degrees C.

 

 

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

Food Safety Enhancement Program
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) represents a new way of approaching the management of chemical, physical and biological hazards which affect food production. It shifts the focus away from costly, and many times inconclusive, end-product testing to more rigorous and scientific management of food processing activities. Critical points in production of a food product are identified and monitored. HACCP systems are unique for each establishment and specific food product.

HACCP and the Canadian Turkey Marketing Board

All aspects of turkey handling and care is outlined in the Poultry Code of Practice. The recommendations outlined in the Code have been developed by producers, processors, government and mainstream humane societies to ensure that turkeys are raised and marketed humanely and responsibly.

In January of 1996, the members of the Canadian Turkey marketing Agency established the Canadian Turkey Marketing Agency HACCP Design team, with the mandate to develop a comprehensive bio-security and quality assurance program based on HACCP principles. In November 1996, the members adopted a manual, “Raising Turkeys … Producing Food”, for implementation on Canadian Turkey Farms.

The key objectives of the program are three-fold :

To ensure that the birds marketed by Canadian growers continue to be high quality, safe and wholesome for consumers in Canada and abroad;
To establish an ante-mortem information reporting system which will assist growers in the continual improvement of bird quality and increased returns as a result of the feedback obtained from their buyers; and
Ensure Canadian growers are on the leading edge of production with respect to quality and food safety, and are prepared to meet the requirements of processors and up-stream sectors in food production and distribution chain as HACCP is implemented in these sectors beginning in 1997.

The recommended procedures are based on common farm sense. As important, however, it sets out our commitment as growers to the consuming public – a commitment that must be well established, clearly articulated and carried forward into the future.