international cold chain
“ [ INTERNATIONAL IMPORT REQUIREMENTS ] ARE ALL SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT AND UNIQUE, BUT THEY ALL COME DOWN TO THE SAME THING, WHICH IS ABOUT SAFE FOOD AND SAFE SUPPLY CHAINS.”
– DOUG HARRISON, VERSACOLD One of VersaCold’ s approved facilities
Compliance Verification Inspection. That document is forwarded with the application to the Chief Veterinary Officer in Ottawa for review, and the CFIA then forwards the results on to China’ s Certification and Accreditation Administration( CNCA).
“ The CNCA will review the information received and process it in the manner that they see fit – either approving, asking for more information or denying the request,” said Harrison.“ So it’ s a very complete and detailed process to ensure the safety of the food products.”
He reports that VersaCold encountered no major challenges in navigating the Meat Inspection Act and China’ s veterinary hygiene and public health regulations.
“ We already had three facilities that were licensed for exports to China, so we were already comfortable with the requirements,” said Harrison.
In order to make sure that the licensing process went smoothly, VersaCold worked with third-party advisors on international trade requirements“ to ensure that we knew what the appropriate requirements were, but again, because we already had very deep dealings in this piece of legislation and because we had ongoing relations with the CFIA, most of the activity was all done in-house,” said Harrison.“ It was not difficult; it was appropriately deep. It was a very good, constructive conversation with the regulatory bodies.”
As for the cost,“ I would say we invested in the process to make sure we were doing all the right things,” he said.
Now, VersaCold is licensed to warehouse many frozen or refrigerated food products in China, as long as they originate from a regulated facility. Beef and pork products are the most commonly shipped items, but throughout the business,“ we handle all sorts of food products – anything you can imagine in the frozen or refrigerated food lines.”
China is not alone in requiring this type of process; different importing countries have slightly different requirements, processes and forms.
“ It’ s a big requirement in a big industry, and that’ s why we have invested so much in the Cold Chain Assurance Group to make sure we meet those requirements,” said Harrison.
Every country the company exports to has“ very high requirements,” he says.“ They’ re all slightly different and unique, but they all come down to the same thing, which is about safe food and safe supply chains.”
Managing the safe handling of temperature-sensitive food products throughout an international supply chain is no easy feat.
“[ It ] certainly takes a lot of expertise,” said Harrison.“ It’ s a product that has a reasonably short shelf life, so time is sensitive, and because it’ s a food product, the thing we talk to our employees about is the importance of food quality and the integrity and safety of the product; that’ s why we’ re so interested in being BRC-certified across our whole network.”
“ Supply chains are always unique,” he said.“ It’ s challenging and demanding to ensure we are responding to changes in supply chains on a global basis. This is an important series of certifications and a high standard. We’ re thrilled to be able to play this important role in the safety of the food supply chain. As a major player in Canada, we and all of our team members take it very seriously.”
20 • SUPPLYCHAINCANADA. CA • SCMA