November 25, 2019 – Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has issued a notice on November 22, 2019 advising distributors, importers, restaurants, retailers, and institutions not to distribute, import, sell, serve, or use romaine lettuce, and products containing romaine lettuce, harvested in the Salinas growing region of California, as identified in the US FDA’s statement due to potential contamination of E. coli O157:H7, until further notice.
CFIA is implementing additional control measures to verify that products from the areas identified in the U.S. FDA’s investigation are not being imported into Canada;
The Public Health Agency of Canada also release a Public Health Notice, on November 22, 2019.
The CFIA notice references the notice posted by Center for Disease Control in the U.S. and the most recent notice issued from U.S. FDA.
CFIA Action
The following action is being implemented for imported Romaine Lettuce and pre-packaged salads containing Romaine Lettuce.
CFIA is requiring that all shipments of Romaine Lettuce and pre-packaged salads containing Romaine Lettuce originating from the U.S. be accompanied by an attestation, on company letterhead of the exporting company, identifying the region of origin of the Romaine Lettuce and attesting that the Romaine Lettuce is not from the Salinas growing region of California.
Shipments or Romaine Lettuce and pre-packaged salads containing Romaine Lettuce which are not accompanied by an attestation will be refused entry into Canada.