According to the Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA), the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has released new information on the Safe Food For Canadians act.
COTA’s Tia Loftsgard recently attended a two-day meeting held by the CFIA to gain feedback on their services. At the event, it discussed the mandatory changes that will come into force within the next year and a half.
CFIA notes that licensing and export certification will now be required for all companies in Canada—including the country’s 70,000 unregistered businesses. Additionally, CFIA will create a digital platform called “ASK CFIA” to help the organization to act as both a regulator and a service provider.
The aforementioned meeting also covered the topics of Import, Export and Domestic, and gathered roundtable feedback from members of the industry. COTA notes that it made requests for more information on how the CFIA staff is trained on organic goods, and learned that it may have more opportunities to do joint industry/CFIA trainings through the International Food Protection Training Institute.
For more information on the Safe Food for Canadians Act, click here.
