New safety requirements for restaurant food suppliers

Published February 9, 2017

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA’s) long-awaited regulations under the Safe Food for Canadians Act are here, and they will impact you. Proposed regulations apply to all food that is imported, exported or traded inter-provincially.

 

If you’re a food supplier

Suppliers will have to be licensed by CFIA and pay a licensing fee. This allows CFIA to identify and track food businesses, and take action if they’re not compliant (e.g. by suspending their licence.)

Traceability is a key driver of the new rules – food can be traced forward to the immediate customer and backward to the immediate supplier.

The new requirements also contain mandatory preventive control measures that go beyond food safety preventive control plans to include marketplace fairness requirements. These include labelling, packaging, standards of identity, grades, and humane treatment.

 

What does this mean for restaurants and foodservice?

The new rules ensure food safety, transparency and fair market practices throughout the supply chain, but they will also push up costs. This could force some smaller food businesses out of the market and raise prices for restaurants who are already struggling with high food costs.

Food safety at foodservice businesses will continue to be the responsibility of provincial and territorial governments.

Get more information on the new requirements.

 

Sign up to learn more

CFIA will host webinars and information sessions on the new regulations. Webinars run Feb. 6 to the end of March. Information sessions start on Feb. 13 and end March 1.

Learn more about these sessions.

 

Need help?

Contact Restaurants Canada’s Paul McKay at 1-800- 387-5649 ext. 4225 or pmckay@restaurantscanada.org.

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