The President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) directed its Inspector General to conduct the following:
- Verify regulatory compliance across a sample of plant-based food manufacturers.
- Review the complaints process to see how the CFIA is integrating this information into risk modelling and inspection frequency.
Based on the findings and recommendations, the CFIA has developed an action plan to strengthen licensing controls and enhance risk intelligence such that the CFIA can implement more effective risk management controls for manufactured foods.
Action 1: Inspection of manufactured food establishments
Timeline: initiated summer 2025, completion by fall 2026
The CFIA will conduct risk-based inspections of over 2,400 manufactured food establishments currently licensed but that have not yet been inspected.
- In addition to these risk-based inspection activities, these visits will support the CFIA's compliance promotion activities, a key component in reminding industry of their obligations and supporting enforcement actions.
- The depth of inspection will depend on the risk of the establishment, enabling the CFIA to take enforcement action when needed to prevent unsafe foods from reaching the Canadian marketplace.
- Results from this work will enable the CFIA to determine future inspection frequencies for the manufactured food sector.
Action 2: Strengthening licensing conditions
Timeline: initiated October 2025
The CFIA will no longer grant SFC licences for lower risk establishments without first verifying that the establishments have provided all the information necessary for the CFIA to conduct a risk assessment.
- All new, amended and renewal applications will be reviewed to ensure the information provided is complete, that hazards have been identified, a Preventative Control Plan is in place where required, and that a food safety culture is demonstrated by the applicant.
Action 3: Enhancing risk intelligence
Timeline: initiated October 2025
Currently, businesses can voluntarily provide certain information (i.e. via the Additional Establishment Information questionnaire) about their activities which the CFIA uses in risk models to assess the risk of the food establishments. However, starting October 2025, the CFIA will require businesses to provide this information as a condition for SFC licensing (i.e. it will be mandatory).
- By requiring that food businesses submit complete information on their activities, the CFIA will have the key information needed to conduct comprehensive risk assessments of food businesses. In turn, the enhanced risk intelligence will enable the CFIA to make more effective risk management decisions.
Action 4: Strengthening risk modelling
Timeline: initiated summer 2025
Starting in 2025, the CFIA will work to enhance its risk models by:
- Including chemical hazards e.g. pesticides, heavy metals etc., in risk calculations (note, currently only biological hazards are used e.g. Salmonella, E. coli).
- Enhanced criteria for the use of complaints information, including data that indicates potential food safety concerns, historical and/or trend information.
By expanding the inputs into the risk models, the CFIA will be able to better characterize the risk of food establishments and inform risk management decisions.
Action 5: Stakeholder engagement and communications
Timeline: initiated and ongoing
At the heart of our food safety system is industry fulfilling their responsibility to produce safe food. The CFIA has clear legislative and regulatory requirements on food safety and industry is obligated to follow the rules to ensure the food they produce is safe.
To ensure that industry can meet the requirements of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR), the CFIA will continue to provide clear guidance to industry and communicate the steps that the CFIA is taking:
- Strengthen licensing controls.
- Requirement that industry provide comprehensive information about their activities as a condition for licensing.
- Expectations that industry comply with the requirements of the SFCR and that they may face stronger enforcement action, including Administrative Monetary Penalties, if they are found to violate the rules.
Action 6: Stronger enforcement action
Timeline: initiated and ongoing
The CFIA has a range of tools to enforce compliance with the regulations. Given that the manufactured food sector was onboarded in 2022 to the SCFR, and its initial focus was on compliance promotion, the CFIA is moving towards stronger enforcement of the rules, including detention of product, licence suspension and cancellation and the use of Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs) when warranted.
- The stronger enforcement action sends a clear message to industry that the CFIA is serious about food safety and expects food businesses to meet the regulatory requirements of the SFCR.