The applicator follows prevailing legislation (e.g., provincial regulations) AND has completed formal training (e.g., online course, self-study course with materials and successful completion of exam, etc.).
Formal training is defined in the CanadaGAP manual as:
Formal training: Consists of a course offered by a recognized educational institution, government body or industry association/group for which a record of attendance is issued. Information about the training content is readily available from the course provider (e.g., course outline, online training materials, etc.).
The definition contains the elements that will be used to determine compliance with the CanadaGAP requirement of formal training. Namely:
- The course is offered by a recognized organization (per options listed in the “Formal training” definition).
- There is evidence that the applicator attended the course
- Information is available about the course content (e.g., course outline, training manual, link to on-line material, etc.) so that it can be determined if the content was relevant.
“Relevant” means that the course relates to agricultural chemical application and to food safety concerns (e.g., if the course only covered matters related to worker safety, it would not be relevant training for food safety).
A list of accepted or approved courses is NOT provided by CanadaGAP or Certification Bodies. Neither CanadaGAP nor the Certification Bodies will review specific courses for content or duration nor will they identify which courses are acceptable or best.