Statement by Michael Taylor, Deputy Commissioner for Foods and Veterinary Medicine, on Systems Recognition Arrangement with Canada
May 4, 2016
The United States Food and Drug Administration, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada have signed a Food Safety Systems Recognition Arrangement. Systems Recognition establishes a framework for regulatory cooperation in a variety of areas that range from scientific collaboration to outbreak response. This arrangement is based on reciprocal food safety systems assessments. The arrangement offers benefits to each country and will consider the oversight of the partner country when prioritizing inspectional activities.
Additionally, this arrangement is part of the US-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council in which the countries intend to better align their food safety regulatory systems, reduce unnecessary duplication, enhance information sharing, and to the extent possible, leverage resources so that the agencies can better meet their public health objectives.
For more information, see
- International Comparability Assessment Tool (ICAT)
- Constituent Update: FDA Recognizes Canada as Having a Comparable Food Safety System to the U.S. May 4, 2016