Updates to the Safe Food for Canadians licence application and guidance

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has made updates to:

the Safe Food for Canadians licence (SFC licence) application (available through My CFIA)the guidance document What to consider before applying for a Safe Food for Canadians licence

SFC licence application

The SFC licence application now requires food businesses to indicate if they conduct licensable activities on fresh speciality mushrooms and supplemented beverages.

In addition to these 2 new classifications, the SFC licence application also requires food businesses to indicate if they conduct licensable activities on fresh berries, fresh leafy greens and frozen berries.

Guidance document: What to consider before applying for an SFC licence

The guidance document What to consider before applying for an SFC licence has been updated to better help you apply for or amend your SFC licence.

For example, in Annex A – Food commodity categories identified in the licence application, descriptions of certain sub-commodity categories have been revised and additional examples of foods that fall into specific sub-commodity categories have been added:

Dairy: yoghurt drink and buttermilk have been added as examples to the Cultured dairy products sub-commodity categoryDairy: yoghurt drink and buttermilk have been removed as examples from the Dairy drinks sub-commodityFresh fruits and vegetables: descriptions and examples of fresh berries, leafy greens and specialty mushrooms have been providedManufactured foods: more detail has been added to the description of infant foods and a description and examples of supplemented beverages have been providedProcessed fruits and vegetables: a description and examples of frozen berries have been provided.

A new sub-section has also been added under Section 4.0 – Addition information to explain the most appropriate commodity and sub-commodity categories for supplemented foods.

If you need to amend your licence, you can do so free of charge through your My CFIA account.

If you have questions about the SFC licence application or your My CFIA account, please visit My CFIA – User guidance or call the CFIA at 1.800.442.2342. You can submit questions related to Canadian food regulatory requirements online using Ask CFIA.