Changes will be phased in during the next three years. OTTAWA--Converting 14 sets of federal food safety regulations into one overall package took the better part of five years but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency finally released its rules to implement the Safe Food for Canadians Act June 13. The first changes will come into force Jan. 15 and the rest will be phased in over the next three years to give the food supply chain time to adjust to the changes, Health Minister Ginette Pettipas Taylor and Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay told a news conference. When CFIA was formed in April 1997, it inherited 14 sets of food safety regulations from various federal departments and agencies. The former Conservative government passed the Safe Food act in 2012. The ministers stressed the importance of the regulations in ensuring consumer confidence in the food supply as well as placing Canada among the international leaders in food safety. “These regulations, which focus on prevention and faster removal of unsafe food from the marketplace, go even further to protect Canadian consumers,” Taylor said. MacAulay said they “will further enhance Canada's international reputation as a global food safety leader, and help maintain and further expand market access for Canada's food businesses.” They will also help meet the goal of $75 billion in farm and food exports by 2025. The food industry generally welcomed the release of the regulatory package but said it needed time to fully assess it before making final comments. Albert Chambers, Executive Director of the Canadian Supply Chain Food Safety Coalition, called the package “a positive step in the modernization of Canada's food safety regulatory regime.” Since consultations on the regulations started in 2013, industry “recommended significant and detailed improvements to the various drafts to ensure that the regulations would meet industry's and government's expectations for rigour and practicality.” While the government package incorporates many but not all those improvements, Taylor has said in writing “that there will be further consultations on our recommendations for broadening the scope of the regulations to include the full supply chain and making other changes to ensure that Canada's food safety requirements are world class,” Chambers said. Michael Graydon, CEO of Food and Consumer Products of Canada, said, “The new regulations are more closely aligned with industry best practices and internationally recognized food safety systems, which FCPC endorses.” At the same time, he reminded CFIA “of the critical need to continue the regulatory development process to address certain gaps in the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, such as vendor qualification programs to ensure our regulations continue to be comparable to our major trade partners.” Overall the regulations “will allow for faster government response to innovation while retaining important safety considerations and tools.” Diane J. Brisebois, President and CEO of the Retail Council of Canada, said “These regulations are the biggest change to the food industry in the past 25 years and they will have a positive and lasting impact. They will reduce the unnecessary administrative burden and help reduce the time it takes to remove unsafe food from the marketplace by requiring businesses to improve their ability to trace their food back to their supplier and forward to whom they sold their products. “We look forward to continuing our work with CFIA to ensure minimal disruptions from any unintended consequences to retailers and ultimately consumers during the implementation process,” she said. Ron Lemaire, President of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association, said the regulatory package “represents Canada's most significant overhaul of food safety regulations in its history. This was achieved through close collaboration between government and the entire agrifood supply chain to ensure that Canadians enjoy one of the safest food supplies in the world.” CPMA will review the new regulations and will support industry implementation and compliance, he said. It also wants harmonization, where appropriate, between the new regulations and the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act in order to facilitate trade with our largest trading partner. The ministers said the regulations put a greater emphasis on preventing risks to food safety and provide consistent rules for food commodities “so consumers can be confident that food on grocery shelves is safer to eat, whether it is produced in Canada or abroad.” Implementation has been delayed until next January to “give businesses time to familiarize themselves with and prepare for the new requirements, including licensing, traceability and preventive controls. The new rules will also be consistent with international food safety standards, and will strengthen Canada's food safety system, enable industry to innovate, and create greater market access opportunities for Canadian food products exported abroad.” Businesses that import food or prepare food for export or to be sent across provincial or territorial borders will now need to have licences as well as preventive controls that address potential risks to food safety. To help reduce the time it takes to remove unsafe food from the marketplace, most food businesses will also have to maintain simple traceability records that allows them to trace their food back to their supplier and forward to whom they sold their products. Retailers will only be required to trace their food back to their supplier, not forward to consumers to whom they sold their products. Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.