Destination Inspection Service: inspection priorities

The creativity, experience and good judgement of inspectors, dispatchers and officers in charge will be relied on to deliver inspections efficiently and fairly with the goal of accommodating all requests in a timely manner.

Destination inspection requests are serviced on a first requested, first served basis.

At destination, product perishability may be a factor in prioritizing inspections.

At destination, priority will be given to those fresh fruits and vegetables and edible fungi, as defined in the Licensing and Arbitration Regulations, which are inspected for the purpose of complying with the requirements of Section 1 of Part II of Schedule II of the Licensing and Arbitration Regulations.

The following product and activity priority list is provided as a guide only, as operational efficiencies will also influence the order of inspections.

Product and activity priority list

Priority 1

Frozen loads and hot loads

Priority 2

Highly perishable products

  • Fruit: blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and other small berries
  • Vegetables: spinach and watercress

Priority 3

Very perishable products

  • Fruit: apricots, cherries, peaches, nectarines, plums, prunes, grapes and exotic fruit such as starfruit
  • Vegetables: asparagus, beans, Belgium endives, summer squash, zucchini, lettuce, mushrooms, parsley, fresh herbs, peas, rhubarb, leaf lettuce (except chicory), endives and produce with tops such as carrots, beets, onions, radishes, turnips and early potatoes

Priority 4

Perishable products

  • All other fruits and vegetables

Priority 5

Weight or count inspections

Priority 6

Other

  • Other destination inspections, including inspections of fresh cut and salad mix, that are delivered for purposes other than arbitration in accordance with section 40 (2) of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Regulations and are delivered if an inspector is available