March 2021
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Report overview
Since 2018, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has been gradually developing its approach to the next phase of its transparency agenda. In 2019 it officially launched its final Open and Transparent Agency Framework 2019 to 2022, which promotes the proactive and ongoing release of information to the public as required under the Government of Canada's Directive on Open Government.
Developed taking into account feedback from Canadians, industry and other stakeholders, the framework underpins our commitment to be open by design by releasing relevant, accurate and timely information to stakeholders about our regulatory and scientific activities, decisions, programs and services.
Progress implementing the framework was slowed in 2020 given the need to respond to and support recovery efforts for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This report demonstrates CFIA's continued commitment to openness, transparency and to keeping stakeholders informed about its progress.
Progress to date
This report highlights achievements in the following 3 themes as defined in the framework, with the objectives that CFIA will:
Empower Canadians to make informed decisions by releasing relevant, accurate and timely information and providing more opportunities to engage with the Agency
Equip all stakeholders with information that will help them navigate the regulatory system and in turn comply with regulations
Respond to the right of Canadians to know how CFIA addresses incidents of non-compliance and how it makes regulatory decisions as part of its compliance, enforcement and scientific activities
Theme 1: empower
Expected outcome: Canadians have more information about food safety, animal health and plant protection to help them make informed decisions, and increased opportunities to engage with CFIA.
Under this theme, the CFIA committed to:
- describe the agency's role and educate the public about how it delivers its mandate
- release science-based information, including results from CFIA science activities and research that will assist Canadians to make informed decisions about the food, animal and plant products they purchase and consume
- increase access to and transparency of consultation and engagement activities on CFIA's regulatory, service and strategic initiatives
Actions taken to get there
- The agency has provided information for consumers about food safety and animal health throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to help protect Canadians and preserve the integrity of our food safety system
- The CFIA website has been updated to make it more plain-language and user-friendly so that users can find information more quickly
- A new online news hub called Chronicle 360 was launched to provide Canadians with more information on what CFIA does, featuring articles, videos and podcasts
- CFIA's President launched a new Twitter account @CFIAPresACIA to connect with the public and share information about how the Agency helps protect Canadians
- The agency joined Instagram to share images and information on food safety, plant and animal health in Canada
- The CFIA Scientific Research Strategy 2018-2021 supports decision-making during scientific research engagement, prioritization, planning, delivery, reporting, and evaluation activities
- The CFIA Policy on Scientific Integrity has been published to help promote scientific integrity in research and scientific activities
- Consultative groups that advise CFIA senior management now have terms of reference, membership and biographies posted online
- Upcoming CFIA consultations are now being added to the Government of Canada's Consulting with Canadians website. Stakeholders can now use this site to find upcoming opportunities to participate in discussions on CFIA's policies and priorities
- Question period notes that were prepared for the Ministers of Health and Agriculture and Agri-Food are available on the Open Government website in the proactive disclosure section
- Briefing notes titles prepared by CFIA for ministers and deputy heads with reference numbers are now public
- Briefing binders prepared for the CFIA President for appearances at Parliamentary Committees are published within 120 days of the Committee meeting
- Briefing packages prepared for new or incoming CFIA Presidents and Ministers are published within 120 days of their appointment
- The agency began to post accessible, up-to-date information about the grants and contributions it awards on the Open Government Portal. Historical information remains available on CFIA's website about funding awarded in the past to initiatives that support its responsibility for safe food and healthy plants and animals
Theme 2: equip
Expected outcome: Stakeholders have the information and tools they need to achieve compliance with regulatory requirements.
Under this theme, the CFIA committed to:
- provide up-to-date guidance to support compliance with regulatory requirements
- release scientific information and tools that can be used to influence compliance and regulatory decisions
- release more information about CFIA's international and market access activities
Actions taken by CFIA to get there
- CFIA continues to update Information for industry about CFIA's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how the agency will provide appropriate oversight of domestic production and imported food products to maintain a safe and stable food supply while supporting trade
- The Standard Inspection Procedure inspectors use to conduct inspections and verify compliance with regulatory requirements was made available online
- A new and revised suite of operational guidance for conducting food inspection activities was made available online in January 2019 to align with the coming into force of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations
- Also, as part of supporting the coming into force of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, CFIA released toolkits for industry about importing, exporting, and development of preventive control plans, as well as a new food business requirements virtual assistant
- The Safe Food for Canadians Licence Registry of food businesses that are considered to be in good standing with the CFIA can now be consulted online
- Processing times for the CFIA's Centre of Administration for Permissions for animals, plants, and food have been made public
- An inventory is now online to provide hyperlinks to all documents currently incorporated by reference in regulations that CFIA administers
- To make our data more accessible to the public as part of the Government of Canada's Open Government initiative, CFIA posted more than 55 new open datasets, including machine-readable results of food-safety targeted surveys, to the Open Data Portal
- Quarterly statistics on number of domestic and import related permissions the CFIA has issued since 2016 for animal, plant and food business lines, are now published
Theme 3: respond
Expected outcome: Canadians can see how and why CFIA takes action to safeguard their interests as part of enhancing their well-being, and that of the environment and the economy.
Under this theme, the CFIA committed to:
- release more complete information about regulatory processes, actions and decisions
- communicate outcomes of compliance and enforcement actions across all three areas regulated by CFIA – food, animals and plants
- demonstrate how CFIA applies a risk-informed approach to protect the well-being of Canadians
Actions taken by CFIA to get there
- Notifications of charges laid to inform the public when charges have been laid by CFIA's Enforcement and Investigation Services (EIS)
- In response to an increase in risk of food fraud related to honey in Canada and globally, CFIA published reports on honey authenticity surveillance for 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020, and published the summary data on the Open Data Portal
- Information about Canada's African Swine Fever Forum held in 2019 was posted. The forum brought together government and industry leaders and decision makers to advance regional co-operation on the prevention and mitigation of the impact of this disease
- As part of building its Establishment-based Risk Assessment model, CFIA published papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals about how it is identifying animal health and food safety risk factors for livestock feed mills and working with external experts to assess their potential impacts
- Similarly, CFIA led a publication with collaboration from academia, government and veterinarians about the science behind estimating the relative risk of each criterion in its Establishment Risk-Based model for Canadian hatcheries, based on its potential impact on human health
- CFIA continued to provide regular updates on the Bovine tuberculosis (Bovine TB) investigation in British Columbia
What's next
The CFIA has had a longstanding commitment to openness and transparency, which we count among our key values. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CFIA is committed to delivering critical services that serve to preserve the integrity of Canada's food safety system while safeguarding its animal and plant resource base.
Over the near term, our focus is on diligently working to address the challenges and concerns raised by industry and consumers regarding COVID-19 as part of an open and transparent recovery and response.
Through this lens, CFIA will continue to provide more information to help industry to comply with requirements and maintain market access, and to support the health and well-being of Canadians. Going forward, the agency's plans to implement the framework will:
- reflect stakeholder feedback received through past consultations about how and where CFIA should be more open and transparent
- consider current trends, challenges and evolving issues impacting Canadians and Canada's regulatory system for food, plants and animals
- focus on information that is valuable to stakeholders, both to inform their own decision-making and to enable them to hold CFIA accountable for the results it achieves
Who can I contact
If you have ideas or suggestions as to where CFIA can increase openness and transparency, send us an email at transparency.transparence@inspection.gc.ca
For information about openness and transparency at CFIA, please visit our Transparency webpage.