Canada

Competent authorities

Name of authority:
Health Canada (HC)
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
Mandate/competence:
Health Canada is responsible for:
- establishing food safety policies and standards governing the safety and nutritional quality of all food sold in Canada;
- the provision of information and advice on food safety and nutrition and promoting the nutritional health and well-being of Canadians;
- conducting health risk assessments in support of food safety investigations;
- evaluates the safety of veterinary drugs used in food producing animals as well as pesticides used in food production.
www.hc-sc.gc.ca
CFIA is responsible for:
- designing and delivering federal food inspection programs;
- verifying industry compliance with food safety regulations for food trade inter-provincially and internationally;
- initiating food recalls in collaboration with industry and investigates foodborne illness outbreaks.
www.inspection.gc.ca
PHAC is responsible for:
- conducting food-related illness surveillance and outbreak investigations;
- provides advice to Canadians on how to protect themselves during an outbreak.
www.phac-aspc.gc.ca
AAFC is responsible for:
- contributing to research and development of on-farm food safety programs;
- working with the agriculture sector to facilitate continued improvement of Canada’s food safety system.
www.agr.gc.ca

INFOSAN Emergency Contact Point

Food safety and consumer protection – laws and regulations

The current list of legislation, related to food safety and consumer protection in each country, is extracted from FAO's database on Food Legislation FAOLEX. While FAOLEX makes every effort to serve as a high quality, reliable source of information, no guarantee is given that the information provided in FAOLEX is correct, complete, and up-to-date.

The national Codex programme

National Codex consultative mechanism

Providers of scientific and technical input to national consultation on Codex

Risk Assessments and Scientific Data

National bodies providing risk assessment and scientific advice

Risk assessment, risk profiles, scientific opinions

Official Laboratories

Official Laboratory:
Health Canada's Food Directorate houses a number of laboratories that conduct chemical, microbiological and nutritional laboratory research and surveillance programs in support of policy development, standard setting, and risk assessment, and include the development and validation of laboratory methods.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) uses a network of Agency and third party accredited laboratories across Canada that perform microbiology, allergen and chemical residue testing to verify that food safety and quality standards are met. The CFIA laboratories also carry out research to develop, improve and validate methods for known and emerging hazards. Third party laboratories are eligible to perform routine work for established programs under contract to the CFIA. All laboratories performing this work are accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 Standard for laboratory operations and technical competence. More information on accreditation can be found at the following link: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/food/chemical-residues-microbiology/laboratory-management/qmof/eng/1342722248818/1342722485391
Official Competence:

Surveillance of foodborne diseases and monitoring of food contamination

National surveillance systems – foodborne disease in humans

National monitoring systems – foodborne hazards in the food chain