The Canadian Food Inspections Agency (CFIA) would like to advise the trade community of new developments with regards to the temporary licence conditions for romaine lettuce imported from Salinas Valley, California this fall.
The CFIA had communicated previously in July, the Agency was engaged in talks with the California LGMA and Western Growers Association to pursue the possibility of offering the option of pre-harvest sampling and testing as a means to comply with the licence condition.
We are pleased to inform you that the CFIA has made the determination that pre-harvest sampling and testing will be an acceptable option under certain conditions. The text of the licence condition is still being finalized, however we can confirm at this point that it will refer to the “routine testing” option contained in Appendix C, Section II, of the California LGMA’s Commodity Specific Food Safety Guidelines for the Production and Harvest of Lettuce and Leafy Greens, with the following additional conditions:
• the maximum size of the sampling lot is 2 acres.
• the minimum number of individual random sample units (grab specimens) per lot is 60.
The exact version of Appendix C that the licence condition will reference is not yet published. You can refer to Version 8/9/2021, which is undergoing minor final modifications.
Importers will still have the post-processing/post-handling sampling option (as per last year) available to them to comply with the temporary licence condition. Therefore, when pre-harvest sampling cannot be performed according to the conditions, suppliers would be able conduct sampling and testing after all post-processing and handling steps are completed.
An official communication to relay this information to SFC licence holders will be issued through MyCFIA early next week.
The CFIA is working on the final texts of the licence condition and accompanying industry guidance. In addition to sampling and testing requirements, the licence condition will outline other requirements such as submitting an attestation, certificates of analysis for each shipments and other documents at time of import. We will give you advanced notice before issuing this additional information through MyCFIA.”