By Jennifer Dorsett
Field Editor
A joint initiative by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will simplify requirements for U.S. companies exporting beef, lamb and pork to Canada.
The review came after Canada finalized its Safe Food for Canadians Regulations last January.
According to FSIS, updates to the Canadian Export Library make it more user-friendly and clarify or remove outdated and unclear requirements, a move that U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Director of Export Services Cheyenne McEndaffer said will benefit U.S. exporters, as well as Canadian customers.
“There’s nothing major in regard to high-level market access expansion, but there are some further alignment of labeling requirements and access for ozone-treated and artificially colored products,” McEndaffer said.
FSIS sought input from USMEF and other industry associations during its review of the export requirements, according to McEndaffer. The agency asked for feedback on burdensome requirements and areas that needed clarification based on new or updated Canadian regulations, which she said hopefully provided a baseline of information for FSIS and CFIA to use in updating the export library.
But the biggest change, according to McEndaffer, is clarity. The previous export library was about 32 pages long, but it’s now been reduced to 12.
“We really applaud FSIS for their inclusion of industry in this discussion, and for making this project happen and get completed over the past couple of years,” she said.
The changes to the export library were posted on March 27 and are now in effect.