ADVANCED EXPORTING STRATEGIES AND ISSUES

REGULATORY AND TECHNICAL COMPLIANCE

SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY STANDARDS AND LABELLING REQUIREMENTS

Enhancing Opportunities in the Canadian Market for Innovative High-Value Colombian Agricultural Products January 15-17, 2013 Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), Cali, Colombia

Craig M. Johnston - Berkeley Corporate Advisors

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Craig M. Johnston Berkeley Counsel Berkeley Corporate Advisors Toronto, Canada Tel +1 416 364 7772 Email craig @berkeleycounsel.com

Introduction • Purpose of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures • General Standards • Standards for Standards • Regulatory Framework • Novel Foods and Plants •  Labelling • Nutrition • Claims

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Purposes of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures a. to protect animal or plant life or health from risks arising

from the entry, establishment or spread of pests, diseases, disease-carrying organisms or disease-causing organisms;

b. to protect human or animal life or health from risks arising from additives, contaminants, toxins or disease-causing organisms in foods, beverages or feedstuffs;

c. to protect human life or health from risks arising from diseases carried by animals, plants or products thereof, or from the entry, establishment or spread of pests; or

d. to prevent or limit other damage from the entry, establishment or spread of pests.

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General Standard for Food In Canada Food and Drugs Act prohibits the sale of an article of food that: (a) has in or upon it any poisonous or harmful substance; (b) is unfit for human consumption; (c) consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid,

disgusting, rotten, decomposed or diseased animal or vegetable substance;

(d) is adulterated; or (e) was manufactured, prepared, preserved, packaged, or

stored under unsanitary conditions.

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Plant Pest Protection Plant Protection Act prohibits the import into Canada or export from Canada of any thing that is a pest (i.e. means any thing that is injurious or potentially injurious, whether directly or indirectly, to plants or to products or by-products of plants, and includes any plant prescribed as a pest), that is or could be infested with a pest or that constitutes or could constitute a biological obstacle to the control of a pest, unless otherwise permitted.

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Standards for Standards

• SPS Agreement and the Canada-Colombia FTA • Measures based on:

•  International standards, guidelines and recommendations; •  Scientifically-based risk assessment and scientifically defensible

risk control measures

• Codex Alimentarius (FAO/WHO) • World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) •  International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC)

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Proposed Enforcement Framework •  Licence all importers, exporters of food and

manufacturers or processors of food products; • Assess importer based, in part, on review of its verification

that supplier’s processes and procedures, and, in particular, the key controls used to ensure the safety, labelling and composition of food during manufacturing, processing, storage or distribution of the product are proper;

• Reflects Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles;

• Recommended International Code of Practice – General Principles of Food Hygiene adopted by the Codex Alimentarius

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Miscellaneous • Alcoholic Beverages • Vitamins and Minerals •  Food Colourings •  Food Additives • Pesticide Residues • Wood Packaging

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Novel Foods a. a substance, including a microorganism, that does not have a history of safe use as a food; b. a food that has been manufactured, prepared, preserved, or packaged by a process that

i. has not been previously applied to that food, and ii. caused the food to undergo a major change; and

c. a food that is derived from a plant, animal or microorganism that has been genetically modified such that

i. the plant, animal or microorganism exhibits characteristics that were not previously observed in that plant, animal or microorganism, ii. the plant, animal or microorganism no longer exhibits characteristics that were previously observed in that plant, animal or microorganism, iii. one or more characteristics of the plant, animal or microorganism no longer fall within the anticipated range for that plant, animal or microorganism

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Plants with Novel Traits

•  a plant that contains a trait which is both new to the Canadian environment and has the potential to affect the specific use and safety of the plant with respect to the environment and human health;

•  traits can be introduced using biotechnology, mutagenesis, or conventional breeding techniques;

•  includes all viable plant parts derived from them

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Novel Foods Assessment •  evaluation of the process used to develop the food

product; •  comparison of its characteristics to those of traditional

food counterparts; its nutritional quality; •  the potential for new toxicants or anti-nutrients; and •  the potential allergenicity of any proteins that have been

introduced into the food by genetic modification techniques.

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Assessment of PNTs

• Phytosanitary risk assessment

• Excludes transgenic cut flowers specifically of the taxa: •  Chrysanthemum x morifolium, •  Dianthus caryophyllus, •  Dendranthema spp., •  Gerbera hybrida, •  Lilium spp., •  Rosa spp., and •  Tulipa spp.

that are not intended for environmental release

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Labelling •  required on pre-packaged goods, that is, goods in

packages that are sold to the consumer, except •  confections that are packaged in one-bite sizes and •  fresh fruits or vegetables packaged in a wrapper or confining band

of less than ½ inch

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Food Labelling - Basic Required Elements (a) the common name of the product; (b) Country of origin; (c) the net quantity; (d) Name and address of the distributor; (e) List of ingredients (including allergens); (f) Nutrition facts table; (g)  Durable life date if the durable life is less than 90 days

(except, among other things, fresh fruit and vegetables) (h)  French/English; (h)  No misleading statements

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Common Name •  The name prescribed by Federal regulations, e.g.,

"orange juice from concentrate", "60% whole wheat bread", "milk chocolate", "mayonnaise", “mixed vegetables” or “breakfast sausage”, where applicable; or

• When not prescribed by regulation, the name by which the food is commonly known, e.g., orange drink, vanilla cookies, chocolate cake.

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Net Quantity •  quantity must be declared in metric units; •  label may also show the Imperial or American equivalents;

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Ingredients List •  listed in descending order of proportion by weight; •  ingredients must be described using their common

names; •  some common names for ingredients are

mandated by regulation.

Allergens enhanced labelling requirements for food allergens, gluten sources and sulphites. Listed food allergens are:

a.almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios or walnuts;

b.peanuts; c.sesame seeds; d.wheat and triticale; e.eggs; f.milk; g.soybeans; h.crustaceans (common name of the crustaceans); i.shellfish (common name of the shellfish); j.fish (common name of the fish); or k.mustard seeds.

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Nutrition Facts Table Required unless the product is

a. foods for which all the required nutritional information may be expressed as "0"

b. Alcoholic beverages c. fresh vegetables and fruits without added ingredients d. most raw, single ingredient meat, meat by-product, poultry

meat, and poultry meat by-product; e. raw, single ingredient marine or freshwater animal products

(such as fish, crustaceans, etc.)

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Standard Table

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Enhanced Optional Table

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Health/Quality Claims • Modifications -- “No salt added”, “Light”

•  The modification must be allowed within the definition of the product

•  Must be a variation for the “usual” •  Must specify why it is, e.g. “light” (e.g. “half the calories of our

regular salad dressing”)

•  “Fresh”, “Natural, “Organic”

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Production Codes

•  herme%cally  sealed  containers  of  processed  fruits  and  vegetables;  •  code  stamped  on  them  to  enable  the  iden%fica%on  of  the  establishment  where  they  were  processed  and  the  date  of  manufacture;  

•  assist  in  product  tracing  and  recalls  in  the  event  of  problems;  

•  strongly  recommended  that  all  products  and  shipping  containers  have  codes  on  them  to  enable  tracing  and  recall  as  well.

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UPC Labels UPC labels are not required by law, but practically all retailers will require this on the label to facilitate inventory control

Conclusions

• Regulatory framework will look to policies and procedures of importer (HACCP);

•  Importer will look to you for assurances regarding proper policies and procedures;

• Recommended International Code of Practice – General Principles of Food Hygiene adopted by the Codex Alimentarius

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… Conclusions

• Develop relationships in light of this footprint: •  Customs brokerages; •  Distributors; •  Clients.

• Recognize the need to support those relationship with information and documented policies and procedures;

•  Identify any short-comings or obstacles in the process and develop strategies for addressing these.

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Thank you!

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