Canadian Food Safety Information Network (CFSIN)
Federal, provincial and territorial food safety organizations work together to protect the health of Canadians.
CFSIN aims to strengthen Canada's ability to prevent, mitigate and respond to food safety risks and incidents by:
- improving collaboration and cooperation between food safety organizations
- detecting and prevent food safety issues using proactive, science-based actions
- responding to food safety incidents in a quick and coordinated manner
- demonstrating the strength of Canada's food safety system to trading partners
Collaborating to protect the health of Canadians
CFSIN facilitates information sharing and collaboration between food safety organizations, promoting a proactive, science-based approach to mitigating food safety risks. When issues do arise, partners can take quick and coordinated actions leveraged through access to resources and digital tools that help to reduce the impact of food safety incidents.
Canadian Food Safety Information Network – More Sharing, More Safety - Transcript
Food inspectors inspect a number of food processing facilities and pieces of equipment.
A man and a woman in lab coats are measuring and moving food samples into bags.
A Canadian Food Inspection Agency liveried car rounds a corner.
Each year, Canada's food safety system detects and prevents foodborne hazards and contaminants from reaching Canadians – testament to the hard work of inspectors, scientists, lab technicians and other food safety personnel across the country.
An image appears on screen of the Canadian flag, and flags of Canadian provinces and territories blowing in the wind.
Today, the collective leadership of federal, provincial and territorial authorities is taking food safety to a whole new level by connecting partners – food safety authorities and food testing labs across Canada – in what they call the Canadian Food Safety Information Network or CFSIN.
Scenes of a variety of landscapes from across Canada appear on screen; a shot of the Vancouver waterfront, a field of yellow canola plants, the historic center of Quebec City and some cliffs and coastline.
An image of a sign of a Public Health Agency of Canada facility appears on screen.
A large group of people are sat in a boardroom talking, a man is presenting in front of a screen.
Moving text appears on screen saying "More Sharing, More Safety"
A map of Canada appears on screen, with text underneath stating "Canadian Food Safety Information Network" yellow dots appear on screen mapping out locations of laboratories and food safety authorities. Dotted blue lines appear linking the yellow dots, at which point they all turn green.
Canada's food safety system is robust and always improving. But incidents do occur – what's really needed to make the system more efficient is a common informatics system that lets partners collaborate and share information in near real-time.
With the CFSIN, Canada's food safety authorities and labs will now be able to share information and gain big-picture insights into incidents, trends and patterns from coast to coast to coast.
Star shaped red dots appear on various points on the map, representing food-borne illness outbreaks. They then move off of the map with green ticks appearing over them.
The CFSIN will make it easier for authorities to identify potential issues and connect with the relevant experts; decide how to respond and who to involve when an incident is confirmed; and launch coordinated action while tracking progress and updating partners across the network.
A scientist operates an immunology machine.
Scientists in lab coats stand in a room talking.
Two food inspectors walk and talk through a food processing facility.
A group of people are sat in a room talking.
Text appears on screen "CFSIN Partners: A Story of Collaboration".
By enhancing the ability to share information, data and expertise, CFSIN is enabling partners to better anticipate, detect, and respond to food safety incidents and other events.
A list of organizations appears on screen, including:
- British Columbia Centre for Disease Control
- British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture
- Alberta Health Services
- Alberta Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
- Alberta Ministry of Health
- Saskatchewan Ministry of Health
- Manitoba Agriculture
- Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food & Rural Affairs
- Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
- National Public Health Institute of Quebec
- Government of New Brunswick, Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries
- Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture
- Government of Nunavut, Department of Health
- Health Canada
- Public Health Agency of Canada
Speaker: Denise MacGillivray, Director, Bureau of Microbial Hazards, Food Directorate, Health Canada. A woman speaks in English addressing an interviewer while looking slightly off camera.
I see it as an easier way to share information between each other, for instance during an outbreak, and a way for all of us to collectively work together and pool our collective resources to make sure that information is available for all of us to ensure safety of Canadians.
A man and a woman walk across a sunlit field carrying boxes of produce.
A graphic of planet earth rotates.
A room full of people look on attentively as various people present or discuss things in a boardroom.
Various scenes of road and sea freight being transported.
Canada's food safety system is already recognized as one of the best in the world. Making it even better through their collective leadership and collaboration, food safety authorities will inspire greater confidence not only among Canadians but also Canada's trading partners, which will promote international trade.
Speaker: Pascal Daigle, Director, Laboratory of Food Analysis Expertise, Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. A man looks slightly off-camera to an interviewer while speaking in French.
Collaborating on this network has fostered a climate of confidence, which encourages exchange among participants, allowing us to see the scope of what can be done in food safety across the country if we combine our efforts.
A map of Canada appears on screen, with a number of yellow points appearing, dotted lines gradually connect the yellow dots, turning them green as they do so.
A graphic of blue icons representing people appears on screen, blue lines connect them with smaller lines bouncing back and forth between the groups of connected people.
The ability to share and access information and expertise across Canada means food safety authorities can better detect and respond to issues before they become health risks.
More sharing. More safety. That's the ultimate promise of the CFSIN.
Contact the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for more information about the CFSIN.
Text appears on screen: inspection.gc.ca/CFSIN
What we do
The CFSIN platform offers a suite of digital tools for use by the CFSIN partners, which are housed on a secure web-based portal:
Collaboration
Share information and expertise with our community of food safety experts across Canada.
Environmental scanning
Identify and analyze emerging risks from food hazards around the world.
Data repository and intelligence
Integrate food safety surveillance laboratory testing data into a single database to support more informed decisions.
Laboratory mapping
Share testing capabilities, surge capacity availabilities and contact details for Canadian food safety laboratories.
Event management (in development)
Coordinate actions and communications during food safety events.
More information
- News release: Strengthening Canada's response to food safety issues
- How Canada's food safety system works
For more information or questions about CFSIN or any of our digital tools, contact CFSIN-RCISA@inspection.gc.ca.
From: Canadian Food Inspection Agency | Health Canada | Public Health Agency of Canada | Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada | National Research Council of Canada