On June 13, CHC was present at the Safe Food for Canadians Act Regulations (SFCR) announcement by Ministers Lawrence MacAulay and Ginette Petitpas Taylor. For the past few years, CHC has participated in Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) meetings and consultations on the drafting of the regulations and recommended significant and detailed improvements to the various drafts to ensure the regulations would be both strong and flexible.
The SFCR comes into effect on January 15, 2019, and some requirements will have to be met immediately. Other requirements will be phased in over a period of 12-30 months based on food commodity, type of activity and business size.
Do you need to have an SFCR license? Find out if you will be required to have an SFCR license by filling out this 5-minute licensing interactive tool.
CHC will continue to look into the regulations and communicate with other industry associations moving forward—and will provide updates as required. As part of the Canadian Supply Chain Food Safety Coalition, we do have a written commitment from the Minister of Health that there will be further consultations on the Coalition’s recommendations to ensure that Canada’s food safety requirements are world class.
CHC appreciates the work that government officials at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have put into this major initiative that will require a continued collaborative approach during the implementation phase. Find out more about SFCR, which has combined fourteen separate regulations (including Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Regulations) into a new approach, please visit CFIA’s SFCR web page.
Trade: Canadian 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.
Traceability will include “one step forward and one step backward” to trace where the food came from and where it is going. Of course, for growers and harvesters, traceability would only be required for one step forward.