Whatever your industrial sector or your goals, CRIQ News has information you shouldn’t be without! On your next visit, don’t forget to check out whether there’s anything new for you!

• Healthy Enterprise Standard Wins Praise - GP²S and BNQ Earn Award

• Alcoa Launches Alcoa Innovation in partnership with the CRIQ and the CQRDA

• New on the shelf: Canadian hydrogen installation code (CHIC)

• RIÉ and CRIQ provide Support for the Electronic Industry

• icriq.com offers a new free service - Infoproduct!

• 15th Annual Canadian Conference on Intelligent Systems
  June, 5-7, 2005, Hilton, Quebec
  Information and registration: www.precarn.ca 

• CRIQ's TMG-12 Receives Double Certification

• Certified Maple syrup : A guarantee of Safety and Quality

Sainte-Foy, October 19, 2004 - The Centre de recherche industrielle du Québec (CRIQ) is proud to announce that one of the machines developed by its employees, the Transversal MSR Grader (TMG), has not only been certified by the American Lumber Standards Committee, but also by the Canadian Lumber Standards Accreditation Board. This certification is for TMGs of 5 to 12 feet. Three TMGs have already been set up in mills and are operational.

The TMG is the first transversal Machine Stress Rated (MSR) grader with direct measurement. It can grade boards ranging from 5 to 16 feet in length, at a rate of 240 lugs/minute. It has a millmeasured correlation coefficient of over 0.89 for all board widths and lengths. In current facilities, the return on investment is achieved within one year.

Mr. Danick Dupont, an engineer and project leader, will be a guest speaker during the 5^th edition of the wood processing workshops that will be held at Loews le Concorde in Québec City. Mr. Dupont will speak on Thursday, October 28 at 1:15 p.m. These workshops are oganized by the Québec Forest Industry Council (www.cifq.qc.ca)

Sainte-Foy, March 20, 2001 - Maple-syrup lovers will be pleased to learn that the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ) has just published a standard dealing with safety and quality of maple syrup. The standard is part of a certification program that has been developed in response to a request from maple-syrup processors in order to ensure that consumers and large buyers get a safe and high quality product.

The certification program is based on strict specifications, which are published in a standard entitled Maple Syrup - Characteristics and test methods (NQ 8082-005), and on verification of compliance with such specifications through product certification (other special requirements are spelled out in the certification protocol NQ 8280-905). Certification is handled by the BNQ, an independent third party organization accredited by the Standards Council of Canada, and which has no ties to maple-syrup producers or processors.

Quality, Food Safety, and Traceability

Among other factors, the standard's quality specifications involve sensory testing (taste and aroma), color, clarity, sugar concentration, and purity, which means that the product is made exclusively by concentrating and evaporating maple sap. Safety requirements involve testing for iodine, lead, and sodium in order to exclude end products with these items exceeding acceptable limits. It also contains requirements to ensure that there are no contaminants, and other conditions regarding the marking and labelling of containers. Lastly, traceability is ensured on the containers of all certified end products, in order to allow for recalls, if necessary. Of course, traceability is crucial when public health is at stake.

In addition to the standard, the certification program also includes verification of compliance with current laws and regulations, classification and inspection reports, and the producer's or processor's obligation to develop and implement a code of good practices aimed at ensuring product safety. The code must contain the six HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) prerequisites, which call for a risk analysis of the premises, transportation and storage, equipment and maintenance, personnel competence, sanitation and pest control, along with recall procedures. The HACCP system is considered to be the international benchmark in the realm of analyzing and controlling food-production health risks.

Maple-syrup processors interested in applying for BNQ's certification program may do so voluntarily, and thereby offer their customers a seal of quality and safety by adding the mark of conformity to their product.

The purpose of standards is to ensure a degree of order and to improve the quality of life in society. They contain guidelines that are aimed at ensuring quality and reliability of products and services, at protecting public health and safety, as well as the environment, from the standpoint of sustainable development.
The BNQ is member of the National Standards System and is accredited by the Standards Council of Canada as a standards development organization, as a certification organization and as a registrar for ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 management systems. It is also a partner of the Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêches et de l'Alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ) for HACCP certification.