Our laboratories
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has a network of 13 reference and research laboratories across Canada. With a combined expertise in animal and plant health, foreign animal diseases, and food safety, our laboratories provide the expertise and scientific knowledge needed to inform our regulatory and risk-based approach to keeping Canada's plants, animals, and food safe.
4 CFIA laboratories in 13 areas of expertise are recognized by the international community for their expertise in animal diseases and have been identified as reference laboratories and collaborating centres for the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH; founded as Office International des Épizooties (OIE)), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Eastern laboratory network
- Charlottetown Laboratory – Plant
- Dartmouth – Food
- Saint-Hyacinthe – Food and animal health
- Longueuil – Food
Ontario laboratory network
National centres for animal diseases (NCAD)
Western laboratory network
Eastern laboratory network
Charlottetown Laboratory
Specialization: Plant
Address: 93 Mount Edward Road
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
The Charlottetown laboratory is responsible for detecting and diagnosing plant diseases. It plays a key role in supporting the trade of Canadian plant goods through the development of technology and techniques that satisfy import and export requirements for clean, disease and pest-free plants.
What's happening at the Charlottetown lab
Dartmouth Laboratory
Specialization: Food
Address: 1992 Agency Drive
Halifax, Nova Scotia
The Dartmouth laboratory carries out regulatory testing to support CFIA's food safety programs. It develops, optimizes, and validates new scientific methods for use in food-related testing.
What's happening at the Dartmouth lab
Saint-Hyacinthe Laboratory
Specialization: Food and animal health
Address: 3400 boul. Casavant Ouest
Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec
The Saint-Hyacinthe laboratory is active in food safety and animal health on numerous fronts. It houses the National Reference Centre for Food Virology and includes a microbiology team that performs regulatory tests for bacteria that cause food-borne illness. It also hosts a research team that develops new methods for detecting viruses in foods.
What's happening at the Saint-Hyacinthe lab
Longueuil Laboratory
Specialization: Food
Address: 1001 St-Laurent
Longueuil, Quebec
The Longueuil laboratory has analytical expertise in several fields related to food safety and consumer protection. It is the only CFIA laboratory with expertise in analyzing the nutritional value of foods. This is used to check the nutrition labelling of domestic and imported food products in Canada. It is a national reference and research centre for allergens.
What's happening at the Longueuil lab
Ontario laboratory network
Ottawa (Carling) Laboratory
Specialization: Food, animal health, and plant
Address: 960 Carling Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario
The Ottawa Laboratory (Carling) performs services relating to the quality of food and food-related products. These range from microbiology and chemistry services focusing on fertilizer, animal feed and food products to innovative research in DNA-based techniques, such as whole genome sequencing methods and software for understanding food-borne bacteria.
What's happening at the Ottawa Carling lab
Greater Toronto Area Laboratory
Specialization: Food
Address: 2301 Midland Avenue
Scarborough, Ontario
The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) laboratory analyzes food to for the detection of contaminants and bacteria that pose a risk to public health.
What's happening at the Greater Toronto Area lab
Ottawa (Fallowfield) Laboratory
Specialization: Food, animal health, and plant
Address: 3851 Fallowfield Road
Ottawa, Ontario
World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reference laboratory for:
- Chronic wasting disease
- Rabies
- Scrapie
The Ottawa (Fallowfield) Laboratory is a multidisciplinary research, technology development and diagnostic services laboratory located on 2,000 acres of land in the Ottawa Greenbelt. It has scientific expertise in all areas of the CFIA's work in food, plant and animal health. It is the only large-animal facility in eastern Canada and is a World Organisation for Animal Health reference laboratory for rabies, scrapie and chronic wasting disease, and is an international collaborating centre for control and epidemiology of rabies in carnivores. Scientists deliver extensive genomic research and technology development to support animal, plant and food safety science.
What's happening at the Ottawa Fallowfield lab
National centres for animal diseases (NCAD)
National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, Winnipeg
Specialization: Animal health and disease control
Address: 1015 Arlington Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reference laboratory for:
- Bovine viral diarrhoea
- Classical swine fever
- Highly pathogenic avian influenza and low pathogenic avian influenza (poultry)
The Winnipeg laboratory is the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease, one of CFIA's national centres for animal disease. This laboratory specializes in research for the detection and prevention of animal diseases that do not originate in Canada, such as foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza. The lab supports this work by developing technology and providing diagnostic services.
What's happening at the National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease lab
- CFIA scientific studies confirm that domestic poultry and swine do not pose a public health risk of transmitting COVID-19
- CFIA Science brochure: National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease Laboratory
- Podcast with Dr. Hana Weingartl, Head of Special Pathogens Unit
- Article: Internationally renowned Winnipeg lab fights avian influenza and other animal viruses with cutting-edge science
National Centre for Animal Diseases, Lethbridge
Specialization: Food and animal health
Address: Twp. Road 9-1
Lethbridge County, Alberta
World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reference laboratory for:
- Anthrax
- Bovine spongiform encephalopathy
The Lethbridge laboratory is one of the CFIA's national centres for animal disease, and is the CFIA Centre for Vector-Borne Diseases. It contributes to the health and protection of animals through diagnostic testing and research. These services are vital in providing the tests required for the export of animals and animal products for trade.
What's happening at the National Centre for Animal Diseases lab
Western laboratory network
The Saskatoon Laboratory
Specialization: Food, animal health, and plant
Address: 116 Veterinary Road
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reference laboratory for:
- Trichinellosis
The Saskatoon laboratory specializes in testing animal feeds, seeds and food, including parasites and drug residues. It includes the Centre for Food-Borne and Animal Parasitology, the Centre for Veterinary Drug Residues and the Seed Science and Technology Section.
What's happening at the Saskatoon lab
The Burnaby Laboratory
Specialization: Food
Address: 3155 Willingdon Green
Burnaby, British Columbia
The Burnaby laboratory supports the CFIA's wide array of food safety programs with chemistry, microbiology and virology testing. It includes a regional satellite lab of the National Reference Centre for Food Virology, which tests for norovirus and hepatitis A virus, and has specialised expertise in testing for food viruses in bivalve shellfish.
What's happening at the Burnaby lab
The Calgary Laboratory
Specialization: Food
Address: 3650 36th Street NW
Calgary, Alberta
The Calgary laboratory specializes in detecting pesticide residues and chemical contaminants such as dioxins or furans in a wide variety of food, animal feeds and fertilizers. It does this through its microbiology and analytical chemistry testing sections.
What's happening at the Calgary lab
Centre for Plant Health, Sidney Laboratory
Specialization: Plant
Address: 8801 East Saanich Road
North Saanich, British Columbia
The Sidney laboratory, the Centre for Plant Health, is Canada's only post-entry quarantine, research and diagnostic facility for tree fruit, grapevine and small fruit and is responsible for testing these types of plants for viruses. This laboratory is isolated from commercial plantings, which helps to prevent a possible spread of infection, and has a climate that is suited to cultivating all of Canada's fruit crops and ornamental plants.
What's happening at the Centre for Plant Health lab
- CFIA Science brochure: Centre for Plant Health Laboratory
- Digging through the past and planting seeds for the future
- News release: Celebrating a site blessing and ground breaking at the Centre for Plant Health
- Renewing the Sidney Centre for Plant Health
- Meet Tracy Lawrence, CFIA virology technician
- Podcast with Anna-Mary Schmidt, Head of Grapevine Diagnostics
- News release: Government of Canada invests $80 million in the Centre for Plant Health
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