The agreement marks the second time FDA has recognized a foreign food safety system as equivalent to U.S. standards, the first being New Zealand in 2012. The goal of the agreement is to facilitate cross-border trade in food products.
The systems recognition arrangement includes most food sectors but includes exemptions for USDA-regulated food and certain FDA-regulated foods governed under special food programs, including meat and poultry, processed eggs, farmed catfish, grade “A” milk and milk products, bivalve molluscan shellfish, dietary supplements and infant formula.
U.S. and Canadian food safety officials will collaborate by increasing communications, sharing changes to food safety policies and regulatory approaches, discussing policy approaches when similar food safety issues arise and notifying one another when food safety concerns arise.