Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm going to make just a few brief comments and then turn it over to Dan Ferguson.
I would say that the situation among cattle producers is very similar to what Mr. Fuller outlined. Food safety is something that producers take very seriously. We're keenly aware that consumers insist that the food they purchase is safe--and so they should. At the same time, the things that producers can do are fairly limited.
That said, Canadian cattle producers are committed to ensuring that the beef they produce is safe for all consumers. Keep in mind that this includes their own families, so they have a personal interest in making sure that food is safe.
At the same time, beef production in Canada also operates in a competitive environment, so we have to be aware that beef purchasers in both the domestic and the export market will want to choose beef based on a number of factors. We're going to want to make sure not only that they have confidence that what we produce is safe, but that we produce it at a competitive price so they will choose that Canadian product.
We have developed a number of things. In fact, we've developed an extensive on-farm food safety program. We call it “verified beef production”. Under that program, we provide training to producers so they have all the latest knowledge to produce wholesome and healthy beef.
Dan delivers that program in Ontario so he is going to outline some of the aspects of that verified beef production program.