Safe Food for Canadians Regulations

On Jun 13, 2018, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Health, and the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced that final Safe Food for Canadians Regulations were published in Canada Gazette, Part II (CGII).

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 regulations will come into force on January 15, 2019.  The period between the final publication of the regulations in CGII 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 following has been updated on the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) page on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) website.

NEW – Importing Food: A step-by-step guide

NEW – Food business activities that would require a license under the proposed SFCR

UPDATED – Frequently asked questions: Licensing

UPDATED – Frequently asked questions: Importing

UPDATED –  Frequently asked questions: Exporting

Additional resources on Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR)