Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Regulations

Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Regulations

Latest Updates

  • New requirement effective May 26, 2025
    As part of the CFIA’s Organic Import Requirements, importers (or their customs brokers) must include a digital copy of the organic product certificate with the import declaration in order to obtain the customs clearance for organic products. 
  • To avoid potential clearance delays, we strongly recommend importers consult the CFIA's Automated Import Reference System (AIRS) to confirm all import requirements, and provide their customs broker with all the required licenses, permits, certificates, and other documents (LCPOs). More details are available on the CFIA's Organic Products webpage.
  • For FedEx Express customers: LCPOs for both organic and non-organic products imported into Canada, can be emailed directly to clearancehelpline@fedex.com. 

Overview

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regulates the importation and exportation of plant, animal, and food products.

Importing

Regulated commodities for importation are identified in the CFIA’s Automated Import Reference System (AIRS). This automated searchable database lists the import requirements for specific commodities. If AIRS prompts you to ‘Refer to CFIA-ISC’, this means that you must send a release request to the National Import Service Centre (NISC) prior to importation, and it must be accompanied by the documentation indicated. Each importation must have its own release request which can be presented by either the importer or the broker. The NISC will not grant release approval for regulated commodities if they have not been presented to the NISC at the first point of arrival (FPOA) in Canada.

To check the status of release requests or meat inspections conducted by the NISC in real time, importers can use the new CFIA Shipment Tracker for Food, Plant and Animal Products tool by entering either the assigned transaction number from the release request or the Official Meat Inspection Certificate (OMIC) number for their shipment. Alternatively, they may also contact the NISC directly at 1-800-835-4486 or cfia.nisc-csni.acia@inspection.gc.ca.
 

Exporting

The rules and policies for the exportation of plant, animal, and food products are dependent on, but not limited to, the following:

  • the exact type of plant, animal, or food product(s) being shipped

  • the quantity and end-use of the product

  • additional information and/or documentation required by the country for which the products are destined

Additional guidance is available on the CFIA Exporting food, plants or animals website

Almost all applications for documentation/permissions (licenses, permits, registrations, authorizations, export certificates) required for regulated commodities can be submitted using the My CFIA , the new online services portal. The portal is available 24/7 and enables users to track, manage, re-use applications, and pay any service fees. It also includes a complete list of online services and how to register for a My CFIA account. It is important to note that there are some applications that the CFIA will only accept through the portal and not by fax or email.


Food Products

Commercial Use

On January 15, 2019, the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) under the Safe Food for Canadians Act (SFCA) came into force. Under the new regulations, businesses that import and/or export food for human consumption as the importer of record (resident or non-resident) or that trade food interprovincially, may require updates to their existing licenses or be required to apply for new SFCR licenses. In addition, preventative controls and traceability measures may be needed for certain commodities to ensure a sufficient process is in place to prevent and address food safety concerns. To learn more, please read our SFCR article.

When exporting food from Canada, additional information and/or documentation (i.e., export certificates) may be required depending on the type of food being shipped and/or the destination country. To help exporters determine the requirements for shipping food products, the CFIA has created a food export requirements library and a step-by-step guide for exporting food.

Non-commercial/Personal Use

Depending on the type of food (e.g., dairy, meat, seafood, etc.) and the quantity and/or origin of the products being imported, additional requirements or restrictions may apply.

To assist in determining what food products are admissible for import into Canada for personal use or consumption and the maximum quantity allowed for each product, please refer to the food product tables available in the following CFIA links.

Table 1. Food products allowed into Canada originating from United States

Table 2. Food products allowed into Canada originating from a foreign country other than United States

If the products you are importing are not listed in the CFIA tables, please refer to the CFIA  Automated Import Reference System (AIRS) for the details. 

If additional documentation is required for the food products being imported, please refer to AIRS to determine the specific documents (e.g., permits or licenses) or contact the Centre of Administration for Permissions.

Meat products are prohibited from being imported into Canada for personal use or consumption, regardless of the quantity or origin of the goods. This would include gift baskets imported into Canada that contain meat  (see CFIA Import Food Notice -  Imported gift baskets containing food). Consumers should review the requirements for their food products by referring to the CFIA food product tables or by using by AIRS (see links above) prior to importing into Canada to help reduce clearance delays and/or the goods from being refused entry. 


Additional Information

CFIA – Importing Food, Plants or Animals

CFIA Food Import Notices

CFIA Web Tool – Determining permits, licenses, certificates, approvals required for goods  to be transported within Canada or for import or export