Statement from the Honourable Kody Blois, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Rural Economic Development

Cutting red tape to ensure the resiliency and competitive advantage of Canada's agricultural sector 

OTTAWA, ON, March 18, 2025 /CNW/ - As Canada's new Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Rural Economic Development, ensuring the resilience of our agriculture sector and enabling a competitive advantage and level playing field for Canadian agricultural products are among my top priorities.

To support these priorities, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is working to remove unnecessary red tape and burden and ensure that our processes and regulations continue to enable prosperity for our agriculture producers, agri-food businesses, and communities across Canada. These measures include:

• Speeding up product approvals to provide alternatives to U.S.-sourced animal feed.
  This measure will alleviate the burden of tariffs on animal feed producers, by increasing the number of approved feed ingredients from within Canada or from other countries. The CFIA will work with industry to understand prioritization needs and provide new guidance to facilitate the pre-market evaluation process for the approval or registration of some feeds products which are already authorized by a trusted foreign regulator. Together, these measures will enable quicker access to alternative feeds, reduce costs to farmers in the short-term, and support future supply chain sustainability for Canadian producers for years to come.

• Aiming to harmonize our bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) enhanced feed ban with U.S. requirements. Globally, the incidence of BSE has declined significantly and in 2021, the World Organisation for Animal Health recognized Canada as a country with negligible risk for BSE. Currently, differences between Canadian and U.S. requirements put our beef industry at a competitive disadvantage to their U.S. counterparts. We are working with industry on options to reduce unnecessary costs and improve competitiveness while continuing to protect animal health and maintain Canada's international trade access.
  
  
• Addressing stakeholder irritants and leveling the playing field for Canadian producers through advancing key regulatory changes that support industry growth and enable fair trade. Canada will explore increasing the maximum slaughter age for feeder calves from 36 to 40 weeks to permit a higher market price for Canadian producers. We are also working to ensure parity between Canadian hatcheries and U.S. hatcheries by harmonizing testing requirements for salmonella enteritis, in line with recent updates to Canadian hatchery regulations.
  
  
• Removing outdated prescriptive requirements and supporting innovation to enable industry-led actions to meet consumer demands and evolving market conditions. We will examine removing unnecessary or outdated labelling requirements for r fresh fruit and vegetables. In addition, we will continue work on a new approach to modernizing fresh fruit and vegetable grades, with the goal of having grades that are outcome-based, harmonized with trading partners where possible, and align with the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations. The CFIA is committed to working with industry to understand obstacles and consult on requirements like standardized food container sizes, which can create unintended trade barriers within Canada, and internationally.

We will continue to use all available measures to reduce red tape, streamline our processes, modernize our regulations, and reinforce our commitment to open and fair trade.

Canada's farmers, producers, and agri-food businesses are essential to our economy, and we are committed to ensuring they have the tools and support they need to succeed—at home and on the world stage.

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Each day, hard-working Canadian Food Inspection Agency employees—including inspectors, veterinarians, and scientists—inspect food for safety risks, work to protect plants from pests and invasive species, and respond to animal diseases that could threaten Canada's animal resource base and human health. Guided by science-based decision-making and modern regulations, the Agency verifies that food sold in Canada is safe while supporting access to international markets for our high-quality agricultural products. To learn more, visit inspection.canada.ca

SOURCE Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)

Contacts: Annie Cullinan, Director of Communications, Office of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, 343-541-9229, [email protected]; Media Relations, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 613-773-6600, [email protected]