Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) provides information of the new documents on the requirements that apply to the preparation of Fish products containing meat or Meat products containing shellfish and the import of Fish products containing meat or Meat products containing shellfish.
Fish products containing meat
If you import a fish product containing meat must ensure that all the meat ingredients:
- originate from a country with a meat inspection system recognized by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) under Part 7 of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR).
- were issued an official document by the foreign competent authority that accompanies the fish product such as:
- an Official Meat Inspection Certificate (OMIC) or an official document in a format approved by CFIA.
Note: The requirements specific to the import of meat products are outlined in the Overview – Importing meat products.
If your business manufactures, processes, treats, preserves, grades, packages or labels, for inter-provincial trade or export, a fish product and uses a meat product as an ingredient, must ensure that the meat was:
- manufactured, processed, treated, preserved, graded, packaged or labelled in Canada by a person with a Safe Food for Canadians (SFC licence) to conduct those activities, or
- imported by an SFC licence holder in accordance to the requirements outlined in the Overview – Importing meat products.
A person who processes (such as debones, cooks or cures) the meat ingredients they use in their fish product must have a work shift agreement.
- Refer to the Regulatory Requirement: Inspection services for Food Animals and Meat Products for further information on the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) requirements applicable to meat.
Meat products containing shellfish
If you import a meat product containing raw shellfish (excluding the adductor muscles of scallops or the meat of geoduck) you must ensure that the shellfish originate from a country with a shellfish inspection system recognized by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency under Part 7 of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR).
- Refer to Importing Live and Raw Molluscan Shellfish for a list of the authorized countries and approved species of molluscan shellfish.
If your business manufactures, processes, treats, preserves, grades, packages or labels, for inter-provincial trade or export, a meat product and uses raw shellfish (excluding the adductor muscles of scallops or the meat of geoduck) as an ingredient, must ensure that the shellfish:
- were harvested in an area classified under the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program
- are not subject to an order prohibiting fishing issued under the Management of Contaminated Fisheries Regulations (MCFR) or were decontaminated in accordance with the decontamination plan submitted in connection with a licence to fish for food purposes issued under the MCFR, or
- were imported by a Safe Food for Canadians licence (SFC licence) holder and originate from a country with a shellfish inspection system recognized by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency under Part 7 of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR).
- Refer to Importing Live and Raw Molluscan Shellfish for a list of the authorized countries and approved species of molluscan shellfish.
More Information on the requirements:
If you have any further questions or inquiries you can contact CFIA directly at 1-800-442-2342 or you can submit it electronically by filling out the contact form.