The Ottawa Laboratory (Fallowfield)
The Ottawa Laboratory (Fallowfield) is located on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People.
About the Canadian Food Inspection Agency
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is a science-based regulator with a mandate to safeguard the food supply, protect the health of plants and animals, and support market access. The Agency relies on high-quality, timely and relevant science as the basis of its program design and regulatory decision-making. Scientific activities inform the Agency's understanding of risks, provide evidence for developing mitigation measures, and confirm the effectiveness of these measures.
CFIA scientific activities include laboratory testing, research, surveillance, test method development, risk assessments and expert scientific advice. Agency scientists maintain strong partnerships with universities, industry, and federal, provincial and international counterparts to effectively carry out the CFIA's mandate.
The Ottawa Laboratory (Fallowfield) is the CFIA's largest laboratory facility serving the CFIA's three business lines (food, plant and animal health). The laboratory is located on 2000 acres of land in the Ottawa greenbelt, with a working farm, as well as bioinformatics expertise and level 2 and 3 biocontainment facilities.
The laboratory has approximately 200 staff in addition to a number of visiting scientists, contract workers and students providing multi-disciplinary research, technology development and accredited diagnostic services to their clients.
The Ottawa Laboratory (Fallowfield) consists of 3 laboratories (food science, plant and animal health) that share the facility's services.
What we do
Food Science Laboratory
Research scientists in this laboratory work cooperatively with other food scientists in the Ontario laboratory network to help develop cutting-edge methodology to meet the CFIA's food testing challenges.
Ottawa Plant Laboratory
The Ottawa Plant Laboratory houses a group of diagnostic and research labs that specialize in genotyping, botany, entomology, nematology, plant pathology and seed science.
Ottawa Animal Health Laboratory
The Ottawa Animal Health Laboratory is comprised of diagnostic units supported by research scientists that specialize in serodiagnosis, rabies, microbiology, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, biocontainment Level-3, pathology and molecular diagnosis.
Reference Laboratories
The Ottawa Laboratory (Fallowfield) is designated as a reference laboratory by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH; founded as Office International des Épizooties (OIE)), with the following areas of expertise:
- rabies
- chronic wasting disease
- scrapie
WOAH Reference Laboratories are designated to pursue the scientific and technical problems that relate to a specific disease or topic. Its role is to function as a centre of expertise and standardisation of diagnostic techniques for its designated disease. The reference laboratory is involved in cutting-edge research and training of highly skilled personnel from countries all over the world.
WHO Collaborating Centre
The Ottawa Laboratory (Fallowfield) is also designated as a collaborating centre by the World Health Organization (WHO) with expertise in the control and epidemiology of rabies in carnivores. WHO Collaborating Centres develop and share tools and information and participate in collaborative research within their area of expertise to support WHO programs nationally, regionally, and internationally.
Quality management
All CFIA laboratories are accredited in accordance with the International Standard ISO/IEC 17025, General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) provides accreditation for routine testing, test method development and non-routine testing, as identified on the laboratory's Scope of Accreditation on the SCC website. Accreditation formally verifies the CFIA's competence to produce accurate and reliable results. The results are supported by the development, validation and implementation of scientific methods, conducted by highly qualified personnel, using reliable products, services, and equipment, in a quality controlled environment. Participation in international proficiency testing programs further demonstrates that our testing is comparable to laboratories across Canada and around the world.
Physical address
Ottawa Laboratory (Fallowfield)
3851 Fallowfield Road
Ottawa, ON
K2J 4S1
More information
- Ottawa Plant Laboratory
- Ottawa Animal Health Laboratory
- Podcast with Dr. Susan Nadin-Davis, Research Scientist
- Article: Animal safety deserves a big "appaws"
Learn about other CFIA laboratories.
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