The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA; french: Agence canadienne d'inspection des aliments) is a
regulatory agency
A regulatory agency (regulatory body, regulator) or independent agency (independent regulatory agency) is a government authority that is responsible for exercising autonomous dominion over some area of human activity in a licensing and regulatin ...
that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, plants, and animals (FPA) in Canada, thus enhancing the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy. The agency is governed by the
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and
Minister of Health.
The agency was created in April 1997 by the ''Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act''
for the purpose of consolidating the delivery of all federal
food safety
Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from t ...
,
animal health, and
plant health regulatory programs in Canada. As such, the CFIA was established by combining and integrating the related inspection services of three separate
federal government departments:
*
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada,
*
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and
*
Health Canada
Health Canada (HC; french: Santé Canada, SC)Health Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Health (). is the Structure of the Canadian federal government#Departments, with subsidiary unit ...
.
Role and responsibilities

The agency is part of the larger
federal public service. According to the CFIA statement of values, science is the basis for regulatory decisions, though the need to consider other factors is recognized. 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. A CFIA technocrat is appointed to be Canada's delegate on the
FAO committee that drafts the
Codex Alimentarius
The Codex Alimentarius () is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines, and other recommendations published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations relating to food, food production ...
,
which is a vital component of the
WTO framework.
The CFIA is also responsible for monitoring pesticide residues in food. Health Canada establishes
Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for pesticide residues in all foods. MRLs are supposedly set for each pesticide-crop combination.
[PMRA: "Frequently Asked Questions on the Re-evaluation of Glyphosate"](_blank)
28 Apr 2017
Agency officials
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.
The CFIA has had many Presidents over its lifetime:
* Paul Glover, was promoted in January 2019 to head
Shared Services Canada.
[
* Siddika Mithani was appointed President on 25 February 2019.]
The Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) of Canada resides in the CFIA hierarchy: Doctor Jaspinder Komal is also Vice President, Science at the CFIA. As a delegate to the OIE, the CVO commits the nation to observe the standards created by the international body, which standards in turn serve the WTO.
The Chief Food Safety Officer for Canada resides in the CFIA hierarchy: most recently, Lyzette Lamondin was appointed to the role in 2017.
The Chief Plant Health Officer for Canada also resides in the CFIA hierarchy. The occupant of this position sits on the North American Plant Protection Organization and the International Plant Protection Convention, the latter of which informs the WTO's . William Anderson Ph.D. is appointed to this post.
The Chief Science Operating Officer, currently Primal Silva, is responsible for the CFIA's 13 laboratories (one of which is Canada's contribution to the BSL4ZNet: National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease) and sits on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development as well as the Global Coalition of Regulatory Science Research.
''Food and Drugs Act''
One of the main acts and regulations that CFIA uses is the '' Food and Drugs Act''. There have been ongoing regulatory amendments brought forward with the most recent attempt at modernizing the ''Food and Drugs Act'' was the introduction of Bill C-51.
Other Acts and Regulations also specify inspection requirements and for certain trade requirements, the need to register with CFIA to conduct business. Such companies are termed "registered establishments" as opposed to those "non-federally registered 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 22000 (which in any case incorporates HACCP) in order to meet client specified standards. Due to the race to globalize and the push to standardize it is no wonder that the Global Food Safety Initiative has been endorsed by the CFIA. All of these standards are closely observed by the food industry due to the potential loss of business. Here, the reader is encouraged to review the CFIA white paper ''Private Certification Policy (Food Safety)'', which at some point between 2014 and 2020 replaced the ''Guide to Food Safety''.
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 is no requirement in the ''Food and Drugs Act'' for importers to directly notify the CFIA of their existence. Import notification is required for other commodities such as fish and meat. All commercial importers must have an import/export account with Canada Border Services Agency
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; french: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and cu ...
(CBSA) who refers food, animal and plant imports to the CFIA as required. Through various phytosanitary
Phytosanitary may refer to:
*Phytosanitary certification
*Phytosanitary inspection
*Phytosanitary irradiation
*Phytosanitary quarantine
*Sanitary and phytosanitary measures and agreements
:*Phytosanitary regulation
:*Agreement on the Application o ...
requirements, CBSA import controls often cause the CFIA to take notice.
Power to recall
The ''Food and Drugs Act'' does not provide the power to recall food products and 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 recall, where there are reasonable grounds that the product poses a risk to public, animal or plant health. CFIA rates their recalls in three classifications (see below). Public notification of Class I and sometimes class II recalls are done by the CFIA. Lower risk recalls are listed in a published database on the CFIA web site. Recall classifications are conducted by the Office of Food Safety and Recall based on risk advice from Health Canada.
*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.
Food Inspector corps
The CFIA Food Inspector Corps. is unionized by the Agriculture Union
The Agriculture Union is an affiliate of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). It has more than 8,000 members who work for Canadian federal government departments and agencies such as the:
* Canadian Food Inspection Agency
* Agriculture ...
, which in turn is an affiliate of PSAC.
On 11 May 2020, the embedded inspector Similar to an embedded journalist, an embedded inspector is paid by the regulator to observe regulated practices at the place of regulated activity. The inspector can work for his entire inspection career at the same regulated facility.
This term i ...
s at slaughterhouses (as represented by the AU) said that CFIA management is "threatening disciplinary action against employees who refuse to be reassigned to work at COVID-19-infected meat plants", while the intrepid journalist was keen to note that Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland had previously said that "those who feel unsafe won't be forced back to work."
Research laboratories
The CFIA houses 13 practical research facilities, among which are at least three containment laboratories, Fallowfield, Lethbridge and the Winnipeg NCFAD:
*Charlottetown
Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...
Laboratory – Plant
*Dartmouth Dartmouth may refer to:
Places
* Dartmouth, Devon, England
** Dartmouth Harbour
* Dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States
* Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
* Dartmouth, Victoria, Australia
Institutions
* Dartmouth College, Ivy League university i ...
– Food
* Saint-Hyacinthe – Food and animal health
* Longueuil – Food
* Carling, Ottawa – Food, animal health, and plant - Central Experimental Farm
The Central Experimental Farm (CEF), commonly known as the Experimental Farm, is an agricultural facility, working farm, and research centre of the Science and Technology Branch, formerly the Research Branch, of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. ...
* Fallowfield, Ottawa – Food, animal health, and plant
*Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater T ...
– Food
* Winnipeg – Animal health/disease control - National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease
*Lethbridge
Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 Alberta municipal censuses, 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...
– Animal health - National Centre for Animal Diseases
* Saskatoon – Food, plant and animal health
*Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
– Food
* Burnaby – Food
*Sidney
Sidney may refer to:
People
* Sidney (surname), English surname
* Sidney (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Sidney (footballer, born 1972), full name Sidney da Silva Souza, Brazilian football defensive midfielder
* ...
– Plant
Incidents
2008 Outsourcing controversy
In July 2008, CFIA biologist Luc Pomerleau was fired for disloyalty to the government, because he transmitted to his union a sensitive Treasury Board minutes document, in which President Vic Toews and ministers approved the cuts proposed by the Minister of Health Tony Clement that were to affect the inspection of animal feed mills, the certification of commercial seed, eliminate mandatory label registration of meat and processed products, the Avian Influenza Preparedness Program, and also called for the consolidation of three "import service centres" into one central facility. Pomerleau is no longer able to work for the government because he was deemed "unreliable" and fired for "gross misconduct".[canada.com: "Scientist fired for sharing secret memo"]
9 July 2008. Also se
/ref>
August 2008 listeria outbreak
According to the findings of the Independent Investigator that was appointed by the government following the 2008 Listeriosis outbreak, there were 75 confirmed cases of listeriosis and was also the underlying or contributing cause of death for 22 of these individuals. Although most cases were in Ontario, illnesses occurred in seven provinces. The report identified response actions that worked well at the federal and provincial levels and gaps in the system should be corrected.
Canadian researcher Sylvain Charlebois published a separate report suggesting that the listeria outbreak forces the agency to accept that food recalls are no longer mainly externally oriented; they are systemic in nature.
2012 brucella bacteria smuggling to China
In October 2012, Canadian Food Inspection Agency scientist Dr. Klaus Nielsen was arrested, with 17 vials of brucella bacteria, headed to Ottawa airport, en route to China. Nielsen pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Wei Ling Yu, a fellow scientist, and Chinese national, fled from Canada. Both were fired from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.[ ]
2017 glyphosate residue tests
In April 2017, it was reported that nearly a third of food samples in CFIA testing contain glyphosate residues. Glyphosate residues were detected in 29.7% of all food samples, with 1.3% containing residue levels above MRLs. For the grain products tested, 3.9% had residue levels about MRLs. The research focused on:[cbc.ca: "Nearly a third of food samples in CFIA testing contain glyphosate residues"]
13 Apr 2017
*482 samples of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables.
*2,497 samples of grains (barley, buckwheat, and quinoa), beverages, bean, pea, lentil, chickpea and soy products.
*209 retail samples of infant foods.
See also
* Canada Border Services Agency
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; french: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and cu ...
References
External links
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
{{authority control
Health Canada
1997 establishments in Canada
Agriculture in Canada
Federal departments and agencies of Canada
Food and drink in Canada
Food safety organizations
Government agencies established in 1997
Meat inspection
Phytosanitary authorities
Veterinary medicine in Canada