This presentation with Daniel Burgoyne, National Manager of Food Imports, Canadian Food Inspection Agency provided at the 2016 Regulatory Workshop covered exporting food to Canada as a shared responsibility for food safety and included imported food (Canadian context), current regulatory framework, and proposed "Safe Food for Canadians Regulations." CFIA shared its regulatory modernization, the Safe Foods for Canadians Act that was underway, its impact on the spice industry, and how the changes will facilitate compliance with the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) as both countries move to modernize food safety.

The microbial safety of “ready-to-eat” (RTE) foods is a hot topic that ASTA is hearing a lot about when it comes to implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet published guidance regarding classifying and processing RTE foods. In these “frequently asked questions” (FAQs), ASTA is sharing information on positions FDA could take on RTE based on the preambles to the FSMA final rules, talks that FDA officials have given, information published in the update to the spice draft risk profile, informal conversations with FDA officials, and other published FDA draft guidance. ASTA has produced these FAQs in order to help members understand FDA’s current thinking on RTE foods, but we note that we have not received input on this document from FDA.