The Minister of Health and the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has announced that final Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) have been published in Canada Gazette, Part II: Vol.152. June 13, 2018.
The regulations will come into force on January 15, 2019. The period between the final publication of the regulations in Canada Gazette II and coming into force will give businesses time to familiarize themselves with and prepare for the new requirements, including licensing, traceability and preventive controls. Some requirements will have to be met immediately upon coming into force, while others will be phased in over a period of 12-30 months based on food commodity, type of activity and business size.
The Safe Food for Canadians Regulations will make our food system even safer by focusing on prevention and by reducing the time it takes to remove unsafe food from the marketplace. The new rules will also be consistent with international food safety standards, and will strengthen Canada’s food safety system, enable industry to innovate, and create greater market access opportunities for Canadian food products exported abroad.
The Government of Canada is helping Canadian food businesses continue to have access to trading partners like the United States, which has already adopted similar regulations. Once the SFCR are fully in force, Canadian food businesses exporting foods that are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration can leverage their SFCR licence to demonstrate that their food safety controls meet their U.S. importers’ requirements under the U.S. Foreign Supplier Verification Program.
The new Safe Food for Canadians Regulations will replace the following regulations:
- Dairy Products Regulations;
- Egg Regulations;
- Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Regulations;
- Honey Regulations;
- Ice wine Regulations;
- Licensing and Arbitration Regulations;
- Livestock and Poultry Carcass Grading Regulations;
- Organic Products Regulations;
- Maple Products Regulations;
- Processed Egg Regulations;
- Processed Products Regulations;
- Consumer Packaging and Labelling Regulations;
- Fish Inspection Regulations; and
- Meat Inspection Regulations, 1990.
Learn more about the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations: www.inspection.gc.ca/safefood.