Regulatory News
| By Krista Coventry, M.Sc.
The Canadian Food Major Changes Landscape on the Regulatory Horizon Canada has gained global recognition for having a top-notch food regulatory system. However, a string of recent international high-profile food recalls, paired with increased global rates of dietary-related chronic disease, has collectively prompted the Canadian government to evaluate its existing food regulatory system.
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oupled with these issues are longstanding industry complaints that the rigidity of the existing Canadian Food Regulations make product innovation a challenge. In an effort to update existing regulations, the Canadian government has engaged in multiple regulatory modernization efforts in the food sector. There are several primary goals of these regulatory initiatives: • To expand the overall safety of the Canadian food supply; • To improve operational efficiencies (i.e. better use of government resources); • To increase transparency in regulatory processes; • To modernize portions of existing regulations to allow for continued development of innovative health products. Two branches of the government currently regulate the Canadian food industry: the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), and Health Canada’s Food Directorate. Both parties are currently undergoing broad regulatory modernization initiatives, which will bring about significant changes to all aspects of Canada’s existing food safety and labelling legislation.
cfia’s Food Regulatory Modernization Initiatives The CFIA bears responsibility for safeguarding all products in the Canadian food supply. The Agency is in the process of implementing new food safety legislation (The Safe Food for Canadians Act and Regulations) as well as modernizing non-safety related aspects of food labelling. CFIA recently communicated the goals of these modernization efforts to the Canadian food industry. Using a risk-based approach, the Agency is striving to achieve consistency in program delivery; food inspection processes; and other CFIA services. Looking forward to 2017, CFIA will provide additional resources (i.e. online tools, technology and training) to help industry navigate the multitude of changes in the regulations governing food safety and labelling. Two of these digital tools are “Ask CFIA” (a new digital service), and “My CFIA” (an online service portal), which are scheduled for release by year-end, 2016. 8 BIOTECHNOLOGY FOCUS October/November 2016
