The CFIA has requested input on the attached draft CFIA Form “Importer Attestation for Fresh Romaine Lettuce Products from the Salinas Valley, California, USA”.
There are new developments regarding the Canadian import requirements for romaine lettuce originating from California’s Salinas Valley in the fall. In 2020, the Canadian Food inspection Agency (CFIA) implemented a temporary testing requirements for romaine lettuce from the Salinas Valley for the fall to protect Canadian consumers from recurring outbreaks of E. coli linked to these products at this time of the year.
The CFIA has made the determination that the pre-harvest sampling and testing approach developed by Western Growers and the California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (LGMA) will be an acceptable option, with some specificity for Canada, to comply with the upcoming temporary Safe Food For Canadians license conditions for this fall. This new option is in addition to the post-processing/post-handling sampling option that was already available last year, and has been made possible thanks to the close collaboration and continuous engagement between the CFIA, US and California Governments (US FDA, California Department of Food and Agriculture) and industry stakeholders. The CFIA will soon publish an official communication to its stakeholders with the final details of the license conditions.
The attestation form will be an electronic fillable pdf that importers/brokers will complete, sign and submit via CBSA’s Integrated Import Declaration (IID) system during the import declaration process.
Please note that there is a “link to be added” placeholder in the form which will be used to link to Western Growers’ “Appendix C: Pre-harvest Product Sampling and Testing Protocol” once it is published.
Here is the attestation form in English and in French.
CFIA will appreciate receiving any comments you may have regarding the form by this Friday September 3rd.
Questions or concerns can be directed to our Canadian regulatory group.