Producer quality assurance programs.

Essentially all animal commodity organizations have established quality assurance programs designed to ensure food safety and quality. Most of these programs were originally implemented to address problems with veterinary drug residues. Many of the current programs have or plan to include food safety critical control points with specific guidelines on how to control or reduce pathogen load. The continued focus placed on food safety by today's consumer demands that American producers ensure that their commodities are wholesome, safe, and of high quality in order to remain competitive in the global marketplace. Veterinarians should recognize that it is important to encourage food animal producers to participate in quality assurance programs for their clients' economic health and for food safety and protection of public health. Commodities certified as being produced under good production practices or by producers certified as following a recognized and validated quality assurance program often bring a premium price. Also, some slaughter establishments are beginning to require producers to be certified as practicing under a recognized quality assurance program before animals are accepted for processing. This practice is being driven partially by the demands placed on slaughter establishments by the US Department of Agriculture's implementation of the Pathogen Reduction, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Systems regulation. Regardless of why producer trade association quality assurance programs have come into existence, veterinarians should promote the programs as an excellent mechanism to help ensure everyone's goal of a safe, wholesome food supply.