Under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the United States (U.S.) issued a final regulation requiring U.S. importers to establish Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) to verify that food imported into the United States has been produced in a manner that meets applicable US safety standards.
The FSVP regulations apply to all foods regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) with some exceptions, such as juice, fish and seafood which are covered by other US FDA regulations.
Canada and the U.S. have a Food Safety Systems Recognition Arrangement (FSSRA). The FSVP rule allows U.S. importers to meet modified requirements for food covered under the FSSRA that they import from Canadian manufacturers if the food is not intended for further processing. Please refer to the text of the Food Safety Systems Recognition Arrangement for more details about the products that are included in this arrangement.
Under these modified requirements, rather than verifying that Canadian suppliers meet applicable U.S. safety standards, importers will verify that their suppliers are in regulatory good standing with Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
Additional information is available on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency website.