Notice to Industry: Meat return policy – New policy and process to return an exported meat product to Canada

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has updated the Policy on import (return) to Canada of meat products that were exported from Canada to include import requirements of exported meat products shipments (return), for all countries including the United States, based on the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR). The policy has been updated to include new operational procedures and a new application form (form CFIAA 5980) which is PDF fillable document.

Updated guidance

Policy

Policy on import (return) to Canada of meat products that were exported from Canada

This new policy is replacing:

Form

Application/authorization form to return exported edible Canadian meat products to Canada (CFIA form 5980)

The new form is replacing:

Operational procedures

Operational Procedure: Return (import) of exported meat products from the United States, pending the results of US laboratory analysis and Operational procedure: Processing applications for the import (return) of edible meat products that were exported from Canada

The operational procedures are replacing:

Transition period

The CFIA has implemented a 3-month transition period starting on October 1st, 2024, to allow a gradual transition to the updated policy and the use of the new application form. During that transition period CFIA will continue to process meat returns using old application process and forms. After that transition period, all meat return applications should follow the updated policy.

Guidance to be archived

The below guidance will be archived after the 3-month transition period.

Application / authorization form for returning legally exported edible Canadian meat products to Canada from countries other than United States

Annex J: Application to return Canadian products exported to the United States

Annex J-1: Flow chart of application to return a shipment exported from Canada

Annex J-2: Operating Procedures to Import Meat Products That Have Been Exported Out of Canada

More information

Food-specific import requirements

My CFIA account

National Import Service Centre