The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is dedicated to safeguarding food, animals and plants, to enhance the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy. In fulfilling its mandate, the CFIA responds to situations where unauthorized products derived through biotechnology are detected in food, feed or the environment. Being "unauthorized" means that the product has not been assessed to determine its safety.
Unauthorized products derived through biotechnology can originate from:
- research material (for example, products that should have been controlled in laboratories, greenhouses or field trials, but appear unexpectedly in food, feed or the environment); or
- from products that are authorized in other countries but are unauthorized in Canada.
Under Canadian legislation, the presence of an unauthorized product in the marketplace or environment constitutes regulatory non-compliance. In such a case, the CFIA and/or Health Canada evaluate the risk associated with the non-compliance. The CFIA would then determine which risk management options and compliance actions are required.
The CFIA has a consistent approach to managing cases of non-compliance, whether they involve unauthorized plant products derived through biotechnology or products not derived through biotechnology. The goal of the response strategy is to manage the risk to the food and feed supply and the environment, while using the most appropriate level of intervention that would result in returning the situation to compliance.