Food Quality & Safety
Canadian seafood is produced under strict guidelines that comply with highest standards to ensure consumers are receiving high-quality and safe products. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency partners with Health Canada to not only set the standards for food safety but to make sure these standards are met.
+ Canada’s Quality Management Program
All establishments processing fish and seafood for export or inter-provincial trade must be federally registered and must develop and implement a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point -based Quality Management Program plan. A processing establishment’s Quality Management Plan outlines the controls implemented by the processor to ensure that all seafood products are processed under sanitary conditions, and that the resulting products are safe and meet all regulatory requirements. Canada’s fish-inspection and control system contributes to our worldwide reputation for safe, wholesome fish and seafood products.
+ Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program
For shellfish, the protocols established through the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program (CSSP) are essential to ensuring only safe product makes it to the marketplace. Extensive water quality and shellstock sampling are part of this program. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada work together to regulate and restrict harvesting to avoid any risks to public health.
The CSSP meets the standards and criteria established in the National Shellfish Sanitation Program, a program administered by the US Food & Drug Administration. As a result of meeting these high standards, Canada is one of only three countries in the world that are presently approved to export live shellfish to the US market.
+ Provincial Codes of Practice
All establishments processing fish and seafood for export or inter-provincial trade must be federally registered and must develop and implement a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point -based Quality Management Program plan. A processing establishment’s Quality Management Plan outlines the controls implemented by the processor to ensure that all seafood products are processed under sanitary conditions, and that the resulting products are safe and meet all regulatory requirements. Canada’s fish-inspection and control system contributes to our worldwide reputation for safe, wholesome fish and seafood products.
