Starting Aug. 23, 2022, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will be imposing new import requirements on raw fresh/frozen poultry meat and products from the UK.

This is in order to harmonize import requirements with the UK in response to worldwide outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), also known as Avian Flu.

The following conditions apply to both edible and non-edible raw fresh/frozen poultry meat and poultry products:

  • Additional animal health attestations in regards to HPAI will now be required for all shipments  of raw fresh/frozen poultry meat and poultry products from the UK when there are active outbreaks of HPAI
  • The attestation will state that the poultry did not originate from a zone under restriction, or from a premises within a 10 km radius of an HPAI control zone, for 90 days prior to slaughter
  • These attestations may be included in an annex to the zoosanitary certificate or the Official Meat Inspection Certificate (OMIC)
  • The veterinary competent authority of the UK have been provided with the wording that will be required
  • Shipments of poultry meat and meat products from the UK that have already been certified prior to this change will be permitted to enter Canada
  • Any shipments certified on or after August 23, 2022 must be accompanied by the updated attestation requirement. There will be a transition period of 2 months (until October 23, 2022) where product will be accepted for import using either the previous or new conditions

If you have any questions about these changes, you can contact the Animal Products and By-products Import Group at [email protected].

View the Government of Canada’s news release here

The CFIA also recently took action to restrict the import of raw poultry and poultry products from certain regions of the United States where HPAI outbreaks had been confirmed.

Read about the CFIA’s poultry import restrictions on certain U.S. states, which are ongoing until further notice

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