On this page you will find information on the requirements specific to meat products and food animals under the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) and Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) and related guidance. This includes those related to:
- slaughter activities
- carcasses and their parts derived from slaughter activities, and
- humane treatment of food animals during slaughter activities
The SFCR also sets out general requirements that apply to most food. Visit Making or trading food in Canada to access information and guidance on these requirements before you review the information specific to meat products and food animals.
Additional requirements for food imports and food exports may apply also to your business.
Know the requirements
Overview of key SFCR requirements: Meat products and food animals
Find out whether the licensing, preventive controls, preventive control plan and traceability requirements apply to you based on the activities you conduct in relation to meat products and food animals.
Documents incorporated by reference in the SFCR
- Ante-mortem examination and presentation procedures for food animals
- Fundamentals of post-mortem defect management program
- Fundamentals of the post-mortem examination program
- Preventive control requirements for biological hazards in meat products
- Meat products containing shellfish
- Canadian standards of identity volume 7, meat products
- Canadian grade compendium volume 1, ovine carcasses and poultry carcasses
- Grade names for imported food (see item 53 in this table for information relevant to meat products)
- Grade designations for imported food (see items 3-6 in this table for information relevant to meat products)
- Units of measurement for the net quantity declaration of certain foods
Regulatory requirements for slaughter and meat products
- Standards for ante-mortem examination and inspection
- Standards for post-mortem evaluation of food animal carcasses
- Standards to identify a meat product as edible
- Standards for the management of condemned and inedible food animals and meat products
- Regulatory requirement: inspection services for food animals and meat products
- Application of the inspection legend on food animal carcasses before refrigeration
Regulatory requirements for humane treatment of food animals during slaughtering activities
- Humane treatment of food animals at the slaughter establishment
- Slaughter without pre-slaughter stunning
- Overview of regulatory requirements for slaughter without pre-slaughter stunning of food animals in Canada
- Humane stunning and slaughter of food animals and post-cut management
Other requirements for meat and poultry products
- Labelling requirements for meat and poultry products
- Food-specific export requirements
- Inspection legends
Preventive control recommendations
Preventive controls for food: Meat products
Recommended preventive control practices for operators to mitigate food safety risks associated with the preparation of processed meat products.
Additional guidance
The following guidance documents include historically accepted and proven parameters, examples of control measures, and other information to help facilitate regulatory compliance. Note there may be other controls that satisfy the requirements under Part 6, Division 7 of the SFCR that are not listed below. Always ensure that the controls you choose are tailored to the uniqueness of your business and are shown to be effective for your situation.
Guidance on slaughter and meat manufacturing activities
Common
- Ante-mortem examination guidelines
- Controls on contamination in red meat and poultry establishments
- Dressing procedures and preparation of edible parts
- Food animal identification
- Game animal slaughter preventive controls (available upon request)
- Guidance on Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspection stations for slaughter operation of food animals and meat products
- Microbial controls for meat products and food animals
- Post-mortem evaluation procedures
Poultry
- Poultry establishment construction and equipment
- Food animal information document for poultry
- Additional poultry and rabbit dressing, evisceration floor procedures
- Post-mortem examination program
- Poultry off-line and on-line reprocessing and reconditioning procedures
- Procedures for preparation of feet or paws (poultry), head and feet-on carcasses (poultry), head-on (rabbits) for edible purposes
- Poultry and rabbit meat refrigeration, chilling, and freezing procedures
- Poultry water retention control program
- Poultry re-examination program
- Pathogen Reduction Monitoring Program for Salmonella and Campylobacter for raw poultry
- Process Verification Monitoring Program for generic E. coli – Biotype I for raw poultry
- Pre-chill microbiological monitoring program for raw poultry
- Protocol for piloting new technology and procedures for poultry slaughter
Red meat
- Control programs: water retention in edible raw red meat products
- Disposition manual for red meat species
- Equine information document (EID)
- Exemption to the application of the inspection legend before refrigeration
- Fresh red meat examination program
- Guidance on Specified risk material (SRM)
- Held rail activities in red meat slaughter
- Modernized Slaughter Inspection Program (MSIP) Hog
- Trichinella carcass testing methodology
- Refrigeration of red meat products
Guidance on animal welfare during slaughter activities
- Evidence showing an animal welfare preventive measure is effective
- Guidelines for preventive control plan for animal welfare for the slaughter of food animals
- Guidelines for ritual slaughter of food animals without pre-slaughter stunning
- Guidelines for stunning techniques for avian food animals, including ratites
- Guidelines for stunning techniques of mammalian food animals
- Guidelines for the humane care and handling of food animals at slaughter
- Mechanical, electrical or gas stunning; slaughter methods and monitoring signs of unconsciousness or consciousness
- Objective performance criteria for humane handling, stunning and slaughter
Related information
Food business activities that require a license under the SFCR
Information on whether the activities you perform trigger the licensing requirement.
Provincially registered meat establishments
Some Canadian meat establishments may be registered provincially rather than federally. A list of provincially registered meat establishments or contact information for provincial meat inspection authorities is available for:
For all other provinces, please contact your provincial Department of Agriculture.
Note: We are not responsible for the content of these provincial lists.