CFIA's role in combatting food fraud

What the CFIA does to combat food fraud

Food fraud can occur at any step in the food processing continuum (raw product, processing, packaging, labelling, retail, etc.) with both imported and domestic food products. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is committed to working with the food industry to find ways to address this growing concern.

The CFIA protects consumers from food fraud by:

conducting inspections at different levels of the food trade, including domestic manufacturers and importers
analyzing food samples and verifying that the composition complies with regulations
identifying and targeting areas of highest risk
investigating complaints, including potential misrepresentation on food labels, restaurant menus or in advertisements
working with:
- industry to encourage best practices such as supply chain controls
- Health Canada to address health and safety risks involved in food misrepresentation
- other federal government departments, provincial governments and other countries when food fraud is identified across jurisdictions
leveraging technology and innovation to help predict fraudulent practices
promoting industry compliance and consumer awareness
providing food labelling tools and resources, including the industry labelling tool and consumer labelling tool
taking action when non-compliance is found

When food products are clearly misrepresented and not compliant with the regulatory requirements, the CFIA will take appropriate regulatory or enforcement actions. In some cases, the agency will recommend prosecution. This will depend on the severity of the violation, the history of compliance of the regulated party, and the intent of the act.

Taking action when non-compliance is found

When food products are misrepresented and not compliant with the regulatory requirements, the CFIA takes appropriate actions to protect consumers. This includes control measures and enforcement actions.

Applying control measures

Control measures are applied to prevent food that presents an immediate risk to human health from being in the Canadian marketplace. This can include product removal, seizure, detention, destruction or relabelling. Traceability requirements are in place so that unsafe foods can quickly be removed from the market through recalls, protecting the health of consumers.

Taking enforcement actions

Enforcement actions are applied to compel a regulated party back into compliance. This can include a written notice, an administrative monetary penalty, recommendation for prosecution, or suspension of their licence.

These actions are considered on a case-by-case basis. They take into account the harm caused by the non-compliance, the compliance history of the regulated party and whether there is negligence or intent to violate federal requirements.

The CFIA publishes the following compliance and enforcement information:

Working with stakeholders and partners

Addressing the issue of food fraud requires a collective effort and engagement by industry, government departments, the scientific community, consumers, academia, non-governmental organizations, and international partners.

The Government of Canada is committed to working with domestic and international stakeholders and partners to discover better ways to address food fraud. Examples of the work Canada is involved with include:

participating in discussions with the food industry and academia to better understand food fraud in Canada and identify solutions
working with international partners to share information to help prevent, detect and deter food fraud
partnering with academia to identify misrepresentation, discuss better ways to test for substitutions, and share information and scientific research
looking at innovative solutions to combat food fraud, specifically new technologies
raising awareness of food fraud and encouraging others to share their perspectives on the issue

Everyone has a role to play

Reports

These reports provide an overview of the food fraud initiative activities performed by the CFIA, with a focus on the results of surveillance. The CFIA continually improves its approach with targeted sampling and testing of higher-risk areas. This maximizes impact and increases the likelihood of detecting food fraud, meaning these results do not reflect what you would find in the overall Canadian marketplace and cannot be compared from year to year to identify trends.