Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SOR/2018-108)

Marginal note:Interprovincial trade and export

• 15 (1) Any food that is sent or conveyed from one province to another or that is exported must meet the following requirements:

  • (a) if the food is manufactured, processed, treated, preserved, graded, packaged or labelled in Canada, that activity must be conducted by a licence holder in accordance with the provisions of the Act and these Regulations, unless that activity is

    • (i) the packaging and labelling of fresh fruits or vegetables in the field by the person who grows or harvests them if they are to be sent or conveyed from one province to another to be subsequently manufactured, processed, treated, preserved or graded by a licence holder,

    • (ii) the packaging and labelling of a food that is set out in Schedule 1 and that is unprocessed and intended to be manufactured, processed or treated for use as a grain, oil, pulse, sugar or beverage, if, at the time that the food is sent or conveyed from one province to another or exported, it is not a consumer prepackaged food and it has a label applied or attached to it, or accompanying it, that bears the expression “For Further Preparation Only” or “pour conditionnement ultérieur seulement”, or

    • (iii) the grading of a livestock carcass or a poultry carcass;

  • (b) if the food, other than a food referred to in paragraph 11(2)(c), has been imported, it must have been imported by a licence holder in accordance with the provisions of the Act and these Regulations; and

  • (c) if the food is a meat product and if

    • (i) any meat product that it contains was manufactured, processed, treated, preserved, packaged or labelled in Canada, that activity must have been conducted by a licence holder in accordance with the provisions of the Act and these Regulations,

    • (ii) any meat product that it contains has been derived from a livestock carcass or a poultry carcass that has been graded in Canada, it must have been graded by a grader in accordance with these Regulations,

    • (iii) any meat product that it contains has been imported, that meat product must have been imported by a licence holder in accordance with the provisions of the Act and these Regulations, and

    • (iv) any meat product that it contains is derived from food animals that were slaughtered in Canada, the food animals must have been slaughtered by a licence holder in accordance with the provisions of the Act and these Regulations.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of the foods referred to in paragraphs 11(2)(a) and (b) and foods that are manufactured, processed, treated, preserved, graded, packaged or labelled by a restaurant or other similar enterprise, when the food is to be sent or conveyed by the restaurant or other similar enterprise to consumers.

Marginal note:Exception — export of non-compliant food

• 16 (1) Any person may export a food that does not meet the requirements of these Regulations, other than a requirement of paragraph 8(1)(c) or (d) or subsection 15(1), if a label applied or attached to the food bears the word “Export” or “exportation” and

  • (a) if the foreign state to which the food is exported has a different requirement on the same matter as the unmet requirement, the person prepares a document that substantiates that the foreign state’s requirement has been met; or

  • (b) if the foreign state to which the food is exported has no requirement on the same matter as the unmet requirement,

    • (i) the unmet requirement must be a requirement set out in any of subsection 9(1) and sections 10, 195, 197, 201, 210, 244 to 249, 262, 268, 272, 273, 292, 293, 306 to 308, 312, 313, 316, 322, 324 to 327, 329 and 331, and

    • (ii) the person prepares a document that sets out the specifications for the unmet requirement as stipulated by the person in the foreign state for whom the exported food is intended.

• Marginal note:Retention period — documents

  (2) The documents referred to in paragraph (1)(a) and subparagraph (1)(b)(ii) must be kept for two years after the day on which the food is exported.

• Marginal note:Additional requirements — meat products

  (3) In the case of the export of a meat product under subsection (1), the requirements of paragraphs 168(1)(a) and (b) must also be met.

Marginal note:Application for export certificate

• 17 (1) An application for the issuance of a certificate or other document referred to in section 48 of the Act must be made to the Minister in a form approved by the President.

• Marginal note:Conditions for issuance

  (2) The Minister may issue a certificate or other document referred to in section 48 of the Act in respect of a food commodity that is intended for commercial use if the applicant holds a licence to export the food commodity and

  • (a) in the case of a food, the manufacturing, preparing, storing, packaging and labelling of the food meets the applicable requirements of Part 4;

  • (b) in the case of a food commodity referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition food commodity in section 2 of the Act, other than an animal, for which a competent authority of a foreign state requires a certificate or other document referred to in section 48 of the Act for its import into that foreign state for the purpose of human consumption, the manufacturing, preparing, storing, packaging and labelling of the food commodity meets the applicable requirements of Part 4 — other than Division 3 — as if it were a food; or

  • (c) in the case of a food commodity referred to in subsection (3), the manufacturing, preparing, storing, packaging and labelling of the food commodity meets the applicable requirements of Part 4 — other than Division 3 — as if it were a food.

• Marginal note:Definition of food commodity in Act

  (3) For the purposes of paragraph (c) of the definition food commodity in section 2 of the Act, any commodity that is derived from an animal or plant, or any of its parts, is a prescribed food commodity if

  • (a) that commodity is not included in paragraph (a) or (b) of that definition; and

  • (b) a competent authority of a foreign state requires a certificate or other document referred to in section 48 of the Act in order for that commodity to be imported into that foreign state for the purpose of human consumption.

• Marginal note:Exemption

  (4) The prescribed food commodity referred to in subsection (3) is exempted from the application of any provision of the Act and these Regulations that is not necessary to give effect to this section. For greater certainty, the exemption does not include section 6 of the Act.

• Marginal note:Inspection before export

  (5) The Minister may require that an inspection be conducted of any food commodity in respect of which a person has applied for a certificate or other document referred to in section 48 of the Act, for the purpose of deciding whether to issue the certificate or other document.

• Marginal note:Inspection — accessibility

  (6) If an inspection of a food commodity is required, the applicant must make the food commodity readily accessible to an inspector at the time of inspection.

Marginal note:Non-compliant food

• 18 (1) Any person may send or convey from one province to another or import a food that does not meet the requirements of the Act or these Regulations — other than section 188 as that section relates to fresh fruits or vegetables, processed fruit or vegetable products or honey, section 306 as that section relates to fresh fruits or vegetables or processed fruit or vegetable products and Volume 4 of the Standards of Identity Document — if

  • (a) a label that bears the expression “For Further Preparation Only” or “pour conditionnement ultérieur seulement” is applied or attached to the food or accompanies it;

  • (b) subject to subsection 8(2), the food is manufactured, processed, treated, preserved, graded, packaged or labelled so that it meets the requirements that are set out in the Act and these Regulations within

    • (i) three months after the day on which the food is sent or conveyed from one province to another or is imported, or

    • (ii) any longer period that is specified by the Minister at the person’s written request; and

  • (c) in the case of import, the food is not a meat product.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Paragraph (1)(a) does not apply in respect of

  • (a) a beef carcass, or a carcass side, hind quarter, front quarter, primal cut or sub-primal cut of a beef carcass, that meets the requirements that are set out in paragraph 306(2)(f);

  • (b) a processed fruit or vegetable product that is labelled under paragraph 306(3)(a); or

  • (c) honey that is labelled under paragraph 306(3)(b).

• Marginal note:Licence holder

  (3) The activities referred to in paragraph (1)(b), other than the grading of a livestock carcass or a poultry carcass, must be conducted by a licence holder.

Marginal note:Exception — import for export

• 19 (1) Any person may import a food that does not meet the requirements of the Act or these Regulations — other than section 188 as that section relates to fresh fruits or vegetables, processed fruit or vegetable products or honey, section 306 as that section relates to fresh fruits or vegetables or processed fruit or vegetable products, Part 13 and Volume 4 of the Standards of Identity Document — if

  • (a) a label that bears the expression “Imported for Export” or “importé pour l’exportation” is applied or attached to the food or accompanies it; and

  • (b) the food is intended to be manufactured, processed, treated, preserved, graded, packaged or labelled for the purpose of exporting it.

• Marginal note:Licence holder

  (2) The activities referred to in paragraph (1)(b), other than the grading of a livestock carcass or a poultry carcass, must be conducted by a licence holder.

Marginal note:Exception — person who conveys

• 20 (1) Subject to subsection (2), the provisions of the Act and these Regulations do not apply to any person who conveys a food commodity if their sole concern, in respect of the food commodity, is its conveyance.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Sections 122 and 123 and subsection 359(3), and any provisions of the Act and these Regulations that are necessary to give effect to them, apply to the person referred to in subsection (1).

Marginal note:Personal use

21 For the purposes of section 19 of the Act, the sending or conveying from one province to another, or the import or export, of a food is considered to be an activity carried out solely for personal use if the food is not intended for commercial use and if

• (a) it is sent or conveyed, imported or exported by an individual, otherwise than in the course of business, and is part of a shipment of food in a quantity that is not more than the quantity set out in the document entitled Maximum Quantity Limits for Personal Use Exemption, prepared by the Agency and published on its website, as amended from time to time; or

• (b) it is imported or exported and is part of the personal effects of an immigrant or emigrant.

Marginal note:Exception — return to Canada of exported food

• 22 (1) The requirements of the Act and these Regulations in relation to import do not apply in respect of a food that is imported after having been exported from Canada if the food is in its exported condition and if

  • (a) in the case of a food other than an edible meat product, the food is sent back to

    • (i) the person who exported it from Canada, if that person holds a licence to export, or

    • (ii) the person who was last in possession of it before its export, from among the persons who manufactured, processed, treated, preserved, graded, packaged or labelled it; and

  • (b) in the case of an edible meat product, the import is authorized by an inspector and the meat product is immediately delivered to an establishment where it is stored and handled in its imported condition by a licence holder and kept in that establishment until an inspector has completed an inspection of the product.

• Marginal note:Meat products

  (2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the foods set out in paragraphs 25(a) and (b) are not considered to be meat products.