TORONTO, (Aug 9, 2005) — The Erb Group of Companies is the second carrier in Canada to receive a Certificate of HACCP Compliance for superior food safety practices.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance developed the Trucking Food Safety Program and engaged Kasar Canada Ltd. to deliver it. The goal is to deliver a practical, cost-effective and results-orientated program for ensuring food safety within the Canadian trucking community.

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) is the food safety self-auditing system at the core of the Trucking Food Safety Program.

The first company certified was MacConnell’s Transport Limited in New Brunswick, also a CTA member.

“HACCP is the wave of the future. We wanted to ensure that the trucking industry was ready to meet the increasing demands of our clients. We believe the program will meet or exceed any food shippers’ expectations,” said Ron Lennox, CTA’s vice-president of Trade and Security.

“Undertaking the rigorous audit process to receive HAACP Certification is not required for transport companies yet, but it is a further service to our customers, assuring them of the finest possible protection for their food shipments,” says Wendell Erb, general manager of the Erb Group of Companies.

Adds Tim Zehr of Erb Transport: “Rather than coming out with something and ramming it down our throats after the fact, the process was to be part of a pilot, to work with it and see where the kinks were during the process,” he says. “Also very interesting is that a lot of the food manufacturers out there had no idea that transportation was a part of the process. As key as it is, it’s amazing that it was previously overlooked.

“In some food traceability diagrams, transportation is usually marked as a little arrow from a plant to a food store at the end. It has been so overlooked and it’s great to see that this has come to light.”