Food Protection Trends - March/April 2018 - 140

GENERAL INTEREST PAPER

Food Protection Trends, Vol. 38, No. 2, p. 140-141
Published 2018, International Association for Food Protection
©Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada
(Canadian Food Inspection Agency), 2018.

Safe Food for Canadians Regulations:
Is Your Business Ready?
Tammy Switucha*
Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Government of Canada, 1400 Baseline Road, Ottawa, Ontario K2C 4B5 Canada

SUMMARY
Are you a Canadian food business that imports food or
prepares food for export? Do you prepare and sell food
within one or more provinces? Do you do business with
a Canadian importer of food? If so, you may be subject
to new requirements under the proposed Safe Food for
Canadians Regulations (SFCR).
OVERVIEW
The draft regulations, which were released for
public consultation in early 2017, are rooted in three
key requirements - licensing, preventive controls and
traceability - which together will help to strengthen
Canada's food safety system. The new legislation will
consolidate 14 sets of existing regulations into one and
streamline food safety requirements across sectors.
Industry will benefit from greater consistency in rules and
regulations, which in turn will provide consumers with a
safer food supply.
What does this mean for you?
Food businesses play an important role in ensuring food
safety in Canada, which is why it is essential to understand
the proposed new requirements and their importance.
Protecting Canadians and your reputation
Strong, flexible regulations that focus on prevention
will go a long way toward helping businesses uphold their
reputation, keeping customers healthy and loyal, and
avoiding costly recalls. Having preventive controls in place
allows you to identify and manage food safety risks before
products are sold to consumers. The ability to trace a food's
path across the supply chain will reduce the time it takes
to remove unsafe foods from the marketplace. Preventive
systems, such as traceability and food safety controls, could
also boost your competitiveness in Canada and abroad.
More flexibility
Rules that focus on food safety outcomes, rather than
prescribed methods and processes, will allow businesses
to be more innovative. Businesses will have more flexibility to introduce new technologies, processes and procedures while still meeting food safety requirements.

140

Food Protection Trends March/April

Licensing - Why it matters
Under the proposed regulations, most Canadian food
businesses that import food from abroad or that prepare
food to be exported or sold across provinces would require
a license to conduct their business. Licensing would
allow the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to conduct
inspections more effectively because we'd have a record of
existing food companies and the food they produce. It also
would make it easier for us to exchange important food
safety information with food businesses. And when we
need to, licensing will allow the CFIA to take enforcement
actions, such as suspending or cancelling a license, when
regulatory requirements are not met.
What can you do now?
Although the proposed Safe Food for Canadians
Regulations are not yet in force, there are actions you can
take to give your food business a head start on compliance.
Preparing now will give you more time to understand
the new requirements and what is expected of you. A
good place to start is to use our three interactive tools to
help you determine how the three key elements of the
regulations would affect your business:
* Would you need a license?
* Would you need a Preventive Control Plan?
* What would your traceability requirements be?
The CFIA developed a handbook that provides food
businesses with a general overview of the regulations
that may help you to better understand what changes will
impact you. A range of other products and tools are also
available, including videos, fact sheets, infographics, stepby-step guides and templates to help inform you about
your regulatory requirements, http://www.inspection.
gc.ca/about-the-cfia/acts-and-regulations/regulatoryinitiatives/sfca/proposed-safe-food-for-canadiansregulations/learn/eng/1427299500843/1427299800380.
Still have questions? You can use Ask CFIA, a service
that provides a single point of contact to ask questions
and help you understand regulatory requirements. You
will receive timely, consistently written answers to
your questions. This service is available today for many

http://www.foodprotection.org/files/food-protection-trends/mar-apr-18-switucha.pdf http://www.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/acts-and-regulations/regulatory-initiatives/sfca/proposed-safe-food-for-canadians-regulations/learn/eng/1427299500843/1427299800380 http://www.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/acts-and-regulations/regulatory-initiatives/sfca/proposed-safe-food-for-canadians-regulations/learn/eng/1427299500843/1427299800380

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