In two months, many businesses will require a licence when the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) come into force. Find out if your business will need a licence or be required to meet other SFCR requirements by January 15, 2019 by visiting the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) interactive tools and timelines.
Food businesses should enrol now in My CFIA and be prepared to apply for a licence once it becomes available. In order to apply for a licence, businesses will need to attest that they have preventive controls in place. Those who submit an SFCR licence application by email or fax will be redirected to apply online using My CFIA. The CFIA has proposed a $250 fee for the SFCR licence. This fee amount will be confirmed prior to coming into force on January 15, 2019.
To help businesses prepare for the new consolidated regulations, new and updated guidance documents will be posted on the SFCR website on a regular basis. The following documents are now available:
New
On the Meat products and food animal site, now find:
- Poultry Pathogen Reduction Program
- Food animal information document for poultry
- Poultry reexamination program
On the Food imports site, now find:
On the Licensing site, now find:
Updated
- Four new terms have been added to the SFCR: Glossary of key terms: Farmed game animal, Insignificant quantity, Veterinarian with supervisory authority, and Wild game animal.
- On the Timelines site, guidance on calculating gross annual food sales and number of employees has been added to the following timetables: Fresh fruit or vegetables, Honey and maple products, Unprocessed food used as grain, oil, pulse, sugar or beverage, All other foods.
For more information about the SFCR, visit inspection.gc.ca/safefood.