If you became sick after eating out (for example at a restaurant, or after attending an event), contact your local public health unit so they can follow up on your complaint. These issues are generally handled by provincial regional or municipal authorities.
If you became sick after eating food purchased at a retail or grocery store, report your food-related concern to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Although discovering a problem with your food is very unpleasant, it is not always a health risk.
These include issues such as mold, best before dates, discolouration, decay, and off-smell.
Here are some common issues that are not considered a food safety risk.
If your food product was sold past its best before date:
Best-before dates (BB) are not indicators of food safety, neither before nor after the date. As it is not illegal to sell a product that is past its best-before date, you can use this information to consider how the food may have changed in terms of its freshness, flavour, texture and/or nutritional value before purchasing.
If your food product was past its expiration date:
An expiration date is not the same as a best-before date. Expiration dates are only required on certain foods such as meal replacement products and baby formula.
After the expiration date, the food may not have the same nutrient content as declared on the label. Food should not be bought, sold or eaten if the expiration date has passed.
This includes concerns or complaints about dirty restaurants, bad food handling practices, the actions of cooks and food servers, adverse reactions or illness from the food.
Food fraud may occur when food is misrepresented (for example, substituting, adulterating or diluting ingredients, mislabelling products, making false or misleading claims).
