April 15, 2026
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Introduction
On April 15, 2026, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) made changes to the grades and requirements for apples in the Canadian Grade Compendium: Volume 2 - Fresh Fruit or Vegetables, a document incorporated by reference into the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations. Changes to documents incorporated by reference follow the CFIA Incorporation by Reference Policy. The amended versions can be found in the Inventory of documents incorporated by reference in regulations that the CFIA administers.
These changes reflect feedback received by the CFIA from the fresh fruit and vegetable industry, trading partners and stakeholders during the Consultation on proposed changes to the Canadian Grade Compendium: Volume 2 – Fresh Fruit or Vegetables.
Summary of changes
Changes to the grades and requirements for apples include:
- removal of prescriptive requirements such as hand-picked
- alignment of spelling of certain terms (for example, bitter pit) with terms used by Canada's trading partners
- addition of defect terms (for example, twig rub and sunburn) to harmonize with terms used by Canada's trading partners
- update of tolerances and scoring approach with those used by Canada's trading partners
- removal of terms (for example, Jonathan spot) that are no longer used and identified in current industry practice
Transition period
The changes to the grades and requirements for apples came into force on the day they were published. The new requirements did not trigger any labelling changes; hence no transition period is provided.
As of April 15, 2026, the previous grade requirements ceased to apply, and all regulated parties must comply with the new grade requirements.
Contact us
Please send questions or concerns to cfia.labellingconsultation-etiquetage.acia@inspection.gc.ca.