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On July 20, 2022, Health Canada published amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations related to front-of package (FOP) labelling in Canada Gazette Part II:
At the time, Health Canada also published the front-of-package nutrition symbol labelling guide for industry, so that stakeholders would have over three years in order to make any required changes.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has updated the front-of-package nutrition symbol labelling guide for industry, to reflect changes to other components of the FOP regulatory package, such as the provisions for high intensity sweetener and the addition of vitamin D to foods. This fulfills a CFIA commitment under Phase I of the multi-year implementation plan for these amendments.
These labelling changes will contribute to Health Canada and CFIA’s continued efforts to help Canadians make more informed choices about the foods they purchase.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is consulting on the review of the Safe Food for Canadians Act (SFCA) to assess if improvements or changes are required to the provisions and operations of the Act.
The consultation is part of a broader legislative review of the Act and is not an evaluation of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR).
Industry, consumers, and interested stakeholders are encouraged to share their thoughts by May 27, 2024.
The Guideline for preparing export certificates for the Canadian pet food industry have been updated to include, among other things, terms and conditions for the use of composite samples in microbiological testing required for the export of pet food. These procedures have been added to the glossary, under the definition “Microbiological testing”. Composite sampling of lots/batches intended for export may be used if all the conditions listed in the table are met.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) adjusts its service fees annually based on the Consumer Price Index in accordance with the Service Fees Act. This requirement ensures that the CFIA’s service fees keep pace with the costs of providing services.
The next annual adjustment will result in an increase of the service fees by 6.8% as of March 31, 2024.
This fee increase reflects the percentage change over 12 months in the April All-items CPI for Canada, published by Statistics Canada, for the previous fiscal year.
More information on Adjusting service fees for inflation is available on the CFIA’s website.
As CFIA evolves its risk management to further support industry’s ability to compete globally and embrace technology, CFIA has developed an Establishment-based Risk Assessment model for food establishments (ERA-Food) tool. The tool was developed to evaluate domestic food establishments based on the risk they represent to Canadian consumers, using establishment-specific data and a mathematical algorithm. It considers risks associated with a specific food commodity; operation or manufacturing process and mitigation strategies implemented by the industry to control their food safety risks; and establishment compliance information.
Developed in collaboration with experts from academia, industry and other government departments, the ERA-Food tool will be used by CFIA to help determine where inspectors should spend time and to inform program planning to place focus efforts on areas of highest risk.
Watch for more TAG Canada Insights on CFIA and the ERA-Food Tool
Canada and Mexico signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) recognizing the 2 national organic systems are equivalent. The agreement began on February 15, 2023.
The recognitions apply to agricultural products of plant origin, and processed foods of plant origin, livestock and livestock products grown or produced in Canada or whose final processing and packaging occurs in Canada and agricultural products of plant origin, and processed foods of plant origin grown or produced in Mexico whose final processing and packaging occurs in Mexico.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) would like to remind stakeholders of the Notice to Industry: Update on compliance timelines for the use of food additives in certain ready-to-eat meat products.
In addition to declaring any food additives, industry is responsible to ensure that the information presented through labels and advertising of certain-ready-to-eat (RTE) meat products is brought into compliance by November 8, 2023.
From September 28 to December 20, 2023, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will be adding temporary conditions to Safe Food for Canadians licences for the importation of romaine lettuce from the United States, including salad mixes containing this lettuce. During this period, importers will be required to provide negative E. coli O157 test results for each shipment of romaine lettuce grown in the Salinas Valley, California.
For more information, please visit Temporary import requirements for romaine lettuce from the United States (2023).
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