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ADVANCED EXPORTING STRATEGIES AND ISSUES
REGULATORY AND TECHNICAL COMPLIANCE
SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY STANDARDS AND LABELLING
REQUIREMENTS
Enhancing Opportunities in the Canadian Market for
Innovative High-Value Colombian Agricultural Products
January 15-17, 2013
Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), Cali, Colombia
Craig M. Johnston
Berkeley Counsel
Berkeley Corporate Advisors
Toronto, Canada
Tel +1 416 364 7772
Email craig @berkeleycounsel.com
Craig M. Johnston - Berkeley Corporate Advisors
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Introduction
• Purpose of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures
• General Standards
• Standards for Standards
• Regulatory Framework
• Novel Foods and Plants
• Labelling
• Nutrition
• Claims
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Purposes of Sanitary and Phytosanitary
Measures
a. to protect animal or plant life or health from risks arising
from the entry, establishment or spread of pests,
diseases, disease-carrying organisms or disease-
causing organisms;
b. to protect human or animal life or health from risks
arising from additives, contaminants, toxins or disease-
causing organisms in foods, beverages or feedstuffs;
c. to protect human life or health from risks arising from
diseases carried by animals, plants or products thereof,
or from the entry, establishment or spread of pests; or
d. to prevent or limit other damage from the entry,
establishment or spread of pests.
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General Standard for Food In Canada
Food and Drugs Act prohibits the sale of an article of food
that:
(a) has in or upon it any poisonous or harmful substance;
(b) is unfit for human consumption;
(c) consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid,
disgusting, rotten, decomposed or diseased animal or
vegetable substance;
(d) is adulterated; or
(e) was manufactured, prepared, preserved, packaged, or
stored under unsanitary conditions.
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Plant Pest Protection
Plant Protection Act prohibits the import into Canada or
export from Canada of any thing that is a pest (i.e. means
any thing that is injurious or potentially injurious,
whether directly or indirectly, to plants or to products
or by-products of plants, and includes any plant
prescribed as a pest), that is or could be infested with a
pest or that constitutes or could constitute a biological
obstacle to the control of a pest, unless otherwise
permitted.
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Standards for Standards
• SPS Agreement and the Canada-Colombia FTA
• Measures based on:
• International standards, guidelines and recommendations;
• Scientifically-based risk assessment and scientifically defensible
risk control measures
• Codex Alimentarius (FAO/WHO)
• World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
• International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC)
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Proposed Enforcement Framework
• Licence all importers, exporters of food and
manufacturers or processors of food products;
• Assess importer based, in part, on review of its verification
that supplier’s processes and procedures, and, in
particular, the key controls used to ensure the safety,
labelling and composition of food during manufacturing,
processing, storage or distribution of the product are
proper;
• Reflects Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)
principles;
• Recommended International Code of Practice – General
Principles of Food Hygiene adopted by the Codex
Alimentarius
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Novel Foods
a. a substance, including a microorganism, that does not have a
history of safe use as a food;
b. a food that has been manufactured, prepared, preserved, or
packaged by a process that
i. has not been previously applied to that food, and
ii. caused the food to undergo a major change; and
c. a food that is derived from a plant, animal or microorganism
that has been genetically modified such that
i. the plant, animal or microorganism exhibits characteristics that were
not previously observed in that plant, animal or microorganism,
ii. the plant, animal or microorganism no longer exhibits characteristics
that were previously observed in that plant, animal or microorganism,
iii. one or more characteristics of the plant, animal or microorganism no
longer fall within the anticipated range for that plant, animal or
microorganism
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Plants with Novel Traits
• a plant that contains a trait which is both new to the
Canadian environment and has the potential to affect the
specific use and safety of the plant with respect to the
environment and human health;
• traits can be introduced using biotechnology,
mutagenesis, or conventional breeding techniques;
• includes all viable plant parts derived from them
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Novel Foods Assessment
• evaluation of the process used to develop the food
product;
• comparison of its characteristics to those of traditional
food counterparts; its nutritional quality;
• the potential for new toxicants or anti-nutrients; and
• the potential allergenicity of any proteins that have been
introduced into the food by genetic modification
techniques.
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Assessment of PNTs
• Phytosanitary risk assessment
• Excludes transgenic cut flowers specifically of the taxa:
• Chrysanthemum x morifolium,
• Dianthus caryophyllus,
• Dendranthema spp.,
• Gerbera hybrida,
• Lilium spp.,
• Rosa spp., and
• Tulipa spp.
that are not intended for environmental release
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Labelling
• required on pre-packaged goods, that is, goods in
packages that are sold to the consumer, except
• confections that are packaged in one-bite sizes and
• fresh fruits or vegetables packaged in a wrapper or confining band
of less than ½ inch
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Food Labelling - Basic Required Elements
(a) the common name of the product;
(b) Country of origin;
(c) the net quantity;
(d) Name and address of the distributor;
(e) List of ingredients (including allergens);
(f) Nutrition facts table;
(g) Durable life date if the durable life is less than 90 days
(except, among other things, fresh fruit and vegetables)
(h) French/English;
(h) No misleading statements
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Common Name
• The name prescribed by Federal regulations, e.g.,
"orange juice from concentrate", "60% whole wheat
bread", "milk chocolate", "mayonnaise", “mixed
vegetables” or “breakfast sausage”, where applicable; or
• When not prescribed by regulation, the name by which the
food is commonly known, e.g., orange drink, vanilla
cookies, chocolate cake.
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Net Quantity
• quantity must be declared in metric units;
• label may also show the Imperial or American equivalents;
Ingredients List
• listed in descending order of proportion by weight;
• ingredients must be described using their common
names;
• some common names for ingredients are
mandated by regulation.
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Allergens
enhanced labelling requirements for food allergens, gluten
sources and sulphites. Listed food allergens are:
a.almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts,
pecans, pine nuts, pistachios or walnuts;
b.peanuts;
c.sesame seeds;
d.wheat and triticale;
e.eggs;
f.milk;
g.soybeans;
h.crustaceans (common name of the crustaceans);
i.shellfish (common name of the shellfish);
j.fish (common name of the fish); or
k.mustard seeds.
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Nutrition Facts Table
Required unless the product is
a. foods for which all the required nutritional information may be
expressed as "0"
b. Alcoholic beverages
c. fresh vegetables and fruits without added ingredients
d. most raw, single ingredient meat, meat by-product, poultry
meat, and poultry meat by-product;
e. raw, single ingredient marine or freshwater animal products
(such as fish, crustaceans, etc.)
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Health/Quality Claims
• Modifications -- “No salt added”, “Light”
• The modification must be allowed within the definition of the
product
• Must be a variation for the “usual”
• Must specify why it is, e.g. “light” (e.g. “half the calories of our
regular salad dressing”)
• “Fresh”, “Natural, “Organic”
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Production Codes
• herme%cally
sealed
containers
of
processed
fruits
and
vegetables;
• code
stamped
on
them
to
enable
the
iden%fica%on
of
the
establishment
where
they
were
processed
and
the
date
of
manufacture;
• assist
in
product
tracing
and
recalls
in
the
event
of
problems;
• strongly
recommended
that
all
products
and
shipping
containers
have
codes
on
them
to
enable
tracing
and
recall
as
well.
UPC Labels
UPC labels are not required by law, but practically all retailers will require
this on the label to facilitate inventory control
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Conclusions
• Regulatory framework will look to policies and procedures
of importer (HACCP);
• Importer will look to you for assurances regarding proper
policies and procedures;
• Recommended International Code of Practice – General
Principles of Food Hygiene adopted by the Codex
Alimentarius
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… Conclusions
• Develop relationships in light of this footprint:
• Customs brokerages;
• Distributors;
• Clients.
• Recognize the need to support those relationship with
information and documented policies and procedures;
• Identify any short-comings or obstacles in the process and
develop strategies for addressing these.
