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Rick VanVranken
As reported in The Produce Reporter by Blue Book Services on August 1, 2023, the Canadian
government has released new temporary licensing rules for importers of US romaine lettuce beginning
September 28 and running through December 20, 2023.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CA FIA) summarized these new requirements in their statement
outlining the rules: “To decrease the risk associated with E. coli O157:H7 in romaine lettuce, the
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is implementing temporary Safe Food for Canadians (SFC)
license conditions for the importation of romaine lettuce originating from the U.S. Between
September 28 and December 20, 2023, importers of romaine lettuce and/or salad mixes containing
romaine lettuce from the U.S. must:
- declare that the product does not originate from counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito
and Monterey in the Salinas Valley, California, U.S., or - submit an attestation form and Certificates of Analysis for each shipment to demonstrate that
the romaine lettuce does not contain detectable levels of E.coli O157:H7
Shippers sending romaine lettuce from other production regions to Canada during this time should
expect to “provide a Proof of Origin indicating the state and county where the romaine lettuce was
harvested”. Lack of proof of origin will require significant sampling and testing to assure lack of
contamination before it will be allowed to be imported. Full details of this new rule are available
on the CA FIA website at
https://inspection.canada.ca/importing-food-plants-or-animals/food-imports/food-specific-requirements/romaine-lettuce-from-the-united-states/eng/1601488215302/1601488215678.