Canadian Food Inspection Agency
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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (French: Agence canadienne d'inspection des aliments), or CFIA, which was created in April 1997, brought together inspection and related services previously provided through the activities of four federal government departments – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Health Canada and Industry Canada. The establishment of the CFIA consolidated the delivery of all federal food, animal and plant health inspection programmes.
Although the group is termed an agency, it is still part of the larger federal public service. According to the CFIA statement of values, science is the basis for regulatory decisions but the need to consider other factors is recognized.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is responsible for the CFIA. The Minister of Health is responsible for establishing policies and standards for the safety and nutritional quality of food sold in Canada; the administration of those provisions of the Canadian Food and Drugs Act that relate to public health, safety and nutrition; and for assessing the effectiveness of the Agency’s activities related to food safety.
Through the enforcement of various acts and regulations, the CFIA works to protect Canadians from preventable health risks and provide a fair and effective food, animal and plant regulatory regime that supports competitive domestic and international markets
The main food elements of the Food and Drugs Act were last updated in 1985 and there have been ongoing regulatory amendments brought forward by Health Canada in its role as the standard setting body.
Since the conception, various legal interpretation have been passed down and molded the operational priorities of CFIA. In particular, the Food and Drug Act / Regulations precribe that entry to a food processing facility must be based on reasonable grounds. As a result, the CFIA must rely on the consumer/industry complaints and advice from Health Canada to provide reasonable grounds for entry.
Other Acts and Regulations do specify inspection requirements and for certain trade requirement, the need to register with CFIA to conduct business. Such companies are termed "registered establishment" as opposed to those "non-federally resgistered establishments" that fall solely under the Food and Drugs Act. While the Food and Drugs Act provide for core food safety standards, many companies opt to use third party standards such as HACCP or ISO in order to meet client specified standards. These standards are closely adhered to due to the potential loss of business.
The Food and Drugs Act does not provide the power to recall food products and almost all recalls are done on a voluntary basis However, Section 19 of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act provides authority for the Minister of Agriculture to order a mandatory recall. Such a recall order would only be conducted if there was potential harm to the consumer (Class I or Class II).
CFIA rates their recalls in three classifications.
"Class I" is a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of, or exposure to, a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.
"Class II" is a situation in which the use of, or exposure to, a violative product may cause temporary adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.
"Class III" is a situation in which the use of, or exposure to, a violative product is not likely to cause any adverse health consequences.
Public notification of Class I and sometimes class II recalls is done by the CFIA. Public notice of low risk recalls are not done but recall information is available through the Access to Information process [1]
The Food and Drugs Act does not have any requirements for domestic manufacturers to notify the agency of their existence but companies generally require provincial registrations or municipal licenses to operate. Provincial authorities and local public health units carry out inspections and work with the CFIA to manage food safety risks.
There were approximately 10,475 importers in Canada in 2005. These importers accounted for over 20 billion kilograms of food products every year (Data provided through Customs Canada). There is no requirement in the Food and Drugs Act for importers to directly notify the CFIA of their existence but all commercial importers must have an import/export account with Canada Border Services Agency who refers food, animal and plant imports to the CFIA as required.
