Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA issued an advisory notice on the Safe Food licence requirement that will be mandatory as of March 15, 2021
if you hold a Safe Food for Canadians (SFC) licence, you must ensure that your licence profile includes all of the food commodities and sub-commodities that are subjected to the activities specified in that licence.
Consider a person who is importing french-fried potatoes as well as whole potatoes into Canada. In addition to the activity “Importing”, they must ensure that their licence profile includes the following commodities:
- Processed fruit and vegetables (sub-commodity Processed vegetables) to represent the french-fried potatoes, and
- Fresh fruits and vegetables (sub-commodity Fresh vegetables) to represent the whole potatoes
For more information on the food commodities listed in the SFC licence application, including examples of foods in each sub-commodity, refer to Annex A of What to consider before applying for a Safe Food for Canadians licence.
Why is it important to select the appropriate commodity(ies)?
As of March 15, 2021, food import transactions will automatically be rejected for the following food commodities unless a valid SFC licence is entered in the Integrated Import Declaration (IID):meat, fish, dairy, eggs, processed eggs, processed fruits or vegetables, honey, maple, fresh fruits or vegetables.
For food importers, this means that your licence must be active (not expired, suspended or cancelled) and be issued for the activity of Importing as well as for the food commodity(ies) you intend to import. It’s also important that your SFC licence number is entered into the “Registration Number” field in IID exactly as it was issued. For more information on transaction rejections, refer to Validation of Safe Food for Canadians licence to import.
If you need to amend the activities or food commodities in your licence profile, this can be done free of charge through the My CFIA portal.
Please be aware that an SFC licence application or amendment request may take up to 15 business days to process and can take longer if a pre-licence inspection is required.
Fresh versus processed fruits and vegetables
We have noticed some confusion around the types of food that fall into the Fresh fruits and vegetables commodity and the Processed fruit and vegetables commodity on the SFC licence application.
Fresh fruits and vegetables
For the purposes of licensing, the Fresh fruits and vegetables commodity includes fresh fruits or vegetables that are whole, washed, sliced, peeled, grated or cut.
The following table provides some examples of foods that fall into this commodity on the SFC licence application:
| Sub-commodity | Examples |
| Fresh fruits | whole, washed, sliced, cored, peeled, grated, chopped or cut fresh fruits such as apples, bananas, berries, citrus, melons, pineapples, rhubarb, peaches and plums, fresh fruit products (such as fresh fruit salad) |
| Fresh vegetables | whole, washed, sliced, peeled, grated or cut broccoli, cauliflower, fresh herbs, leafy vegetables (such as bok choy, brussel sprouts, cabbage, lettuce, rapini, spinach), mushrooms, root vegetables (such as garlic, ginger, onion, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips), sprouts and fresh vegetable products (such as prepared salads and salad kits) |
Processed fruit and vegetables
For the purposes of licensing, the Processed fruit and vegetables commodity includes foods made from a fruit or vegetable that has been processed to create a refrigerated, frozen or shelf stable food. The processes applied to these foods most often are (but not limited to): cooking, freezing, drying, pickling, canning (hermitically sealed package), pureeing, or juicing.
The foods found in the Processed fruits or Processed vegetables sub-commodities may contain a variety of other ingredients and may or may not be subject to standards of identity or grades set out in the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations and Food and Drug Regulations. Many of these foods were previously regulated by the Processed Products Regulations; however, similar foods made by processing fruits or vegetables that fell outside these former Regulations are now included within this commodity group.
The following table provides some examples of foods that fall into this commodity on the SFC licence application:
| Sub-commodity | Examples |
| Processed fruits | apple sauce, fruits packed in hermetically sealed packages (such as cherries, fruit cocktail, fruit salad, fruit cups, peaches, pears, plums, sliced apples, strawberries), frozen fruits, sorbet, fruit juice, concentrated fruit juice, fruit juice from concentrate, and frozen concentrated fruit juice, fruit nectars, jams, jellies, fruit spread, fruit pie filling, fruit peel, marmalade, minced meat, dried fruits, fruit leathers |
| Processed vegetables | vegetables packed in hermetically sealed packages (such as asparagus, beans, bean sprouts, beans with pork, beets, carrots, corn, cream style onions, creamed mushrooms, green beans, peas, potatoes, ketchup, legumes, lima beans, mixed vegetables, mushrooms, pumpkin, squash, sauerkraut, spinach, sweet potatoes, tomato (crushed, diced, paste, pulp, puree, sauce, stewed), chickpeas, lentils, and wax beans), frozen vegetables (such as peas, mushrooms, onions, spinach, squash, vegetable mixes/blends), french-fried potatoes, vegetable juices, vegetable juice from concentrate, concentrated vegetable juice, chutney, horseradish, sauerkraut, olives, pickles (fresh or fermented), relishes, dried vegetables |
Questions
If you have any questions or issues with your food import declaration, please contact the National Import Service Centre.
For questions or issues with your SFC licence, please refer to our Food licences page or use our online tools: