The Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program (CSSP) is a federal food safety program jointly administered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO). The goal of the program is to minimize the health risks associated with the consumption of contaminated bivalve molluscan shellfish such as mussels, oysters and clams.
Under the CSSP, the Government of Canada implements controls to verify that only shellfish that meet food safety and quality standards reach domestic and international markets.
Roles and responsibilities
Canadian Food Inspection Agency:
- maintains a biotoxin surveillance program in shellfish harvest areas
- recommends to Fisheries and Oceans Canada the closure and reopening of shellfish harvest areas based on Canadian marine biotoxin or microbiological standards
- licenses persons or food businesses who are:
- manufacturing, processing, treating, preserving, grading, packaging and labelling shellfish for the purpose of interprovincial trade or export
- importing shellfish
- verifies the compliance of licence holders to the regulatory requirements for shellfish sanitation and takes enforcement action such as suspending or cancelling licences in cases of continued unacceptable operating and sanitation conditions
Environment and Climate Change Canada:
- identifies safe shellfish harvest areas in Canada, which includes ongoing water quality monitoring of fecal contamination in the marine environment, in accordance with the CSSP manual criteria
- conducts comprehensive sanitary and bacteriological water quality surveys in shellfish harvest areas in Canada
- identifies and/or assesses key sources of sanitary point and non-point pollution that would impact shellfish harvest areas
- recommends classification of shellfish harvest areas based on the results and analyses of these activities
- recommends to Fisheries and Oceans Canada the closure and reopening of shellfish harvest areas based on Canadian marine water quality standards
Fisheries and Oceans Canada:
- opens and closes shellfish harvest areas, and monitors harvest activities within these areas
- notifies the public of shellfish harvest area closures
Health Canada:
- establishes policies, regulations and standards related to the safety and nutritional quality of food
- conducts health risk assessments in order to inform and protect Canadians from the health risks associated with food
Shellfish harvest area openings and closures
Fisheries and Oceans Canada communicates shellfish harvest area closures through:
- the real-time map of shellfish harvest area closures
- shellfish harvest area closure signs
- direct communication with bivalve shellfish harvesters, processors, and local media
Reference material – consumers
- Fish and seafood fact sheets (bacteria, viruses and marine toxins)
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada factsheet on the dangers of illegal harvesting
Reference material – industry
- Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program Manual
- Facts on shellfish harvest area closures related to significant weather events
- Importing live and raw shellfish: requirements and country lists
- List of Canadian establishments and harvest areas approved to export bivalve molluscs, echinoderms, tunicates and marine gastropods to the European Union
- Canada and USA joint health risk assessment on norovirus in bivalve molluscan shellfish
- Human waste containment requirements for vessels – Questions and answers
Related sites
- United States Food and Drug Administration – National Shellfish Sanitation Program
- United States Food and Drug Administration – Interstate certified shellfish shipper's list
- Environment and Climate Change Canada – Shellfish Water Classification Program