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Starting April 22, 2025 the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will begin to issue a new version of the zoosanitary certificate for raw or minimally heat-treated pet food for export to Canada. The new version of the certificate includes updated conditions applying to the risk of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in unpasteurized milk.
Specifically, unpasteurized milk must originate from a state that hasn’t reported HPAI in ruminants in the previous 30 days. There will be a 3-month transition period ending July 22, 2025, when either the previous or the new version of the certificate will be accepted for import into Canada.
Information on HPAI testing in livestock can be found on the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service webpage. The CFIA AIRS system was updated, April 22, 2025, to reflect this change.
Canada Department of Finance – On April 15, Canada’s Minister of Finance, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, announced that the government intends to provide temporary six-month relief for goods imported from the U.S. that are used in Canadian manufacturing, processing and food and beverage packaging, and for those used to support public health, health care, public safety, and national security objectives. This provides immediate relief to a broad cross-section of Canadian businesses that must rely on U.S. inputs to support their competitiveness as well as to entities integral to Canadians’ health and safety, such as hospitals, long-term care facilities and fire departments. The remission is provided on a time-limited basis to provide businesses and entities with additional time to adjust their supply chains and prioritize domestic sources of supply if available.
Canadians have been clear in recent weeks that they want to support Canadian businesses and buy Canadian products now, more than ever.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a Notice to Industry regarding the importance of accurate use of Product of Canada and Made in Canada labelling. When using these claims, it is important to follow the guidance for their use and ensure the label is accurate and not misleading. Accurate “Made in Canada” and “Product of Canada” labelling fosters a fair marketplace, builds trust, and strengthens consumer confidence in Canadian businesses.
Consult the notice to industry to learn more.
Health Canada’s Food and Nutrition Directorate would like to inform you of modifications to the Lists of Permitted Food Additives related to flavouring preparations that will be published on Health Canada’s Web site concurrently with the publication of the Regulations Amending Certain Regulations Concerning Food Additives and Compositional Standards, Microbiological Criteria and Methods of Analysis for Food in the Canada Gazette, Part II.
More specifically, Health Canada intends to modify:
Under these requirements, establishments will need to have their enterprise information published on the GACC Department of Animal and Plant Quarantine (DAPQ) online database.
The General Administration of Customs China (GACC) will be implementing new registration requirements for foreign establishments involved in the processing, storage, and export of the following plant and animal products to be exported to China:
Import Alert; Notification of Requirement for VS Import Permit for Commercial Shipments of Non-Shelf Stable Food Products for Human Consumption Imported from Canada Which Contain Egg/Egg Products as Ingredients
Effective September 27, 2024, The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) will require a VS import permit for commercial shipments of non-shelf stable food products for human consumption imported from Canada,
which contain egg or egg products as ingredients, and which do not meet the conditions of
CFIA is seeking input from stakeholders on a proposal that would establish a single inspection fee of $0.00230/kg (i) for all fish and seafood importers; and, (ii) for all imported fish and seafood products.
Since the implementation of the SFCR in 2019; importers holding a ‘basic’ seafood license (prior to SFCR) paid a different inspection fee than those importers who held a ‘QMP import license’ (prior to SFCR).
CFIA is accepting comments until end of day June 12, 2024 (30 days from today).
Members:
Members are asked to submit comments to [email protected] by end of day May 31st, if you wish to have them included in the I.E. Canada submission.
Stakeholders:
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has launched a consultation with interested stakeholders to obtain feedback on proposed amendments to Part 16 – Fish Inspection Fees of the CFIA Fees Notice related to import inspection fees.
The consultation will be open for 30 days, and you are encouraged to share comments from May 13, 2024 to June 12, 2024. Feedback received will help inform final amendments.
Comments can be sent to [email protected]. Please use “Fish import inspection fees” in the subject line of the email.
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 your thoughts by May 27, 2024.
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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