Am I Eligible?

Eligible participants include:

Eligible companies must be either federally or provincially registered businesses with an active GST number and must be based and operating out of British Columbia. They must operate agri-businesses that handles food for human consumption, and can be located on or off a farm premise.
Includes:
  • Processors, Transporters, Warehouses, Distributors, Packagers, Importers that handle food and beverage for human consumption;
  • Processing facilities (beyond basic washing, grading and packaging) located on or off a farm premise and not covered by a certified On-Farm Food Safety (OFFS) Program

We encourage all eligible businesses, no matter where you are on the food safety spectrum, to apply for program funding!

All eligible companies are required to:

  • Have an active 9-digit business registration number (BN) with CRA or have an active GST and file business or farm income taxes in British Columbia (BC);
  • Must be based and operating in the province of BC;
  • Be provincially or federally licensed;
  • Constitute a legal entity (an association, corporation, partnership, proprietorship, trust, or individual that has legal standing in the eyes of the law);
  • Be in compliance with all requirements of the law and agree to remain in compliance for the term of the Canada Agricultural Partnership (CAP) funding agreement;
  • Be registered with the BC Premises Identification* Program if you raise livestock and/or poultry; [please visit www.gov.bc.ca/premisesidprogram];

Required Documentation

In addition, eligible applicants will be asked to provide supporting documents, including:

  • A letter of commitment from their Senior Management team in order confirm their commitment to the improvement of their food safety system;
  • A provincial or federal operating license;
  • A letter from financial institution; and
  • Other requirements for eligibility may be set if necessary.

Eligible NAICS Codes:

Your organization must be classified under one of the following eligible North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes, in order to qualify for the Post-Farm Food Safety Program. Please explore these codes in further detail on the Statistics Canada website

Manufacturing
  • 3112 Grain and Oilseed Milling
  • 3113 Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing
  • 3114 Fruit and Vegetable Preserving and Specialty Food Manufacturing
  • 3115 Dairy Product Manufacturing
  • 3116 Meat Product Manufacturing
  • 3118 Bakeries and Tortilla Manufacturing
  • 3119 Other Food Manufacturing
Beverage and tobacco product manufacturing
  • 3121 Beverage Manufacturing
  • 3123 Cannabis product manufacturing NEW
Transportation and warehousing
  • 481 Air transportation
  • 482 Rail Transportation
  • 483 Water transportation
  • 484 Truck Transportation
  • 4931 Warehousing and Storage

Who Cannot Apply (Ineligible Participants)

The following types of organizations have been deemed as not eligible for the Post-Farm Food Safety Program:

  • Operations that grow, process or handle health or nutrition supplements; Health and/or nutrition supplement processing/handling operations;
  • Operations producing pet food or food not intended for human consumption;
  • Business only involved in primary production;
  • Retail operations;
  • Restaurants or other foodservice operations;
  • Aquaculture and seafood production businesses
  • Unlicensed, unregistered, and/or uninspected facilities; and
  • Any other business deemed ineligible by the ministry.

When there is any uncertainty, the Program Registrar will contact the province to make the official decision regarding eligibility.