Anil Arora and Anne Lamar, assistant deputy ministers of the Health Products and Food Branch (HPFB), recently announced the opening of a new branch office on April 4, 2016. This office is the first that unites the existing front-line food and drug inspectors with inspectorate staff for natural products under a new cooperative called RORB, the Regulatory Operations and Regions Branch. Health Canada says this merger will strengthen the delivery of compliance and enforcement programs across the country.
This change utilizes existing structures and a team of inspectors already working from the food and drug division into the team of inspectors responsible for natural products, drugs, medical devices, and donor blood and semen among other things, like pesticides.
It is expected the Regulatory Operations and Regions Branch will also maintain several laboratories, the Environmental Health Program, and the recently created Office of Regulatory Initiatives newly responsible for key regulatory programs for openness and transparency.
Time will tell what impact these changes will have on natural health retailers after the reorganized office and its larger team of compliance and enforcement inspectors merge operations.
