Additional establishment information checklist

Food establishments are requested to provide information related to their products and processes. Completion of this information will assist the CFIA Establishment-based Risk Assessment model for food establishments (ERA-Food) in determining the appropriate oversight of your food related activities.

Before you get started

Before you begin adding your establishment's additional information into My CFIA, ensure you have the information you need.

Also, ensure you review the definitions for the terms related to the information you are requested, before entering your information. Terms are explained in the Additional establishment information in My CFIA – glossary of terms.

• Step 1: Review your Safe Food for Canadians Licence
• Step 2: Review your establishment's implemented mitigation measures
• Step 3: Review your establishment's operational activities
• Step 4: Find the additional establishment information section in your My CFIA account
• Step 5: Select the establishment for which you are providing additional establishment information
• Step 6: Enter your additional establishment information in My CFIA

Step 1: Review your Safe Food for Canadians Licence

• a) You must have a Safe Food for Canadians licence with a licensable domestic activity to add additional establishment information in My CFIA. For information about obtaining a licence, watch the Requesting a Safe Food for Canadians Licence video.
• b) Your selected SFC licence activities, commodities and sub-commodities must accurately reflect the food products and activities for the establishment that you are providing additional establishment information.
  • The SFC licence selections regarding your establishment's commodities, sub-commodities and activities influence the additional establishment information you will be required to provide.
    • Commodity group (for example: meat, fish, dairy)
    • Commodity sub-group
    • Licensable domestic activity (for example: preparing, or slaughter)
    • Licensable international activity (importing, exporting)

Please verify your SFC licence information regarding commodities and activities to ensure it is accurate. For more information on Safe Food for Canadians commodities, refer to Annex A – Food categories identified in the licence application, and activities refer to Annex B – SFCR licensable activities.

Step 2: Review your establishment's implemented mitigation measures

Implemented mitigation measures

Information provided in this section includes any control measure(s) or strategy(ies) implemented by your establishment that can reduce food safety risks to consumers.

Food safety certification schemes

This section is asking you to identify all Food Safety Certification Schemes currently implemented and that have achieved certification. You will be asked to select all that apply.

• Schemes certified to Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) (for example, HACCP Canada)
• International private certification schemes (for example, Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) recognized schemes and/or International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Food Safety Standards)
• Other – any other food safety certifications not outlined above, you will need to name them.

Note: Certification for the schemes certified to Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) and the international private certification schemes must have been achieved from a party other than the CFIA

Third party audits related to food safety

Preventive Control Plan (PCP) audited by a third party, other than, or in addition to audits for certification purposes. Only consider audits for food safety, therefore do not consider organic certification audits.

• In addition to the audits for certification purposes, this establishment's Preventive Control Plan (PCP) is audited by a third party. Only consider third party audits that are food safety related (for example, do not consider organic certification audits).

Quality assurance personnel

• This establishment has at least one employee dedicated to and responsible for Quality Assurance / Food Safety, who is available full time on-site during production hours (for example, food microbiologist, food quality management expert, HACCP coordinator, Quality Assurance technician).

Rework of returned products

• Returned products are refused by this establishment for the purpose of being reworked and/or sold.

Food safety control of incoming supplies / materials

Activities performed by the establishment to control the food safety risks associated with incoming supplies / materials. You will be asked to select all that apply.

• Review of Certificate Analysis
• Letter of Guarantee
• Audit of suppliers
• Use of suppliers with international recognized certification (for example, GFSI)
• Sampling of incoming materials / ingredients and subsequent decision process
• Use of flock or farm treatment records
• Use of suppliers with on-farm food safety programs
• Other – any other food safety controls related to incoming supplies and/or materials not outlined above, you will be asked to name them

Microbiological sampling plan

Identify which of the following microbiological sampling plans are in place at your establishment (for example: environmental sampling such as food contact surface (FCS) and non-food contact surface (NFCS) as well as finished product sampling). You will be asked to select from:

• microbiological sampling in place
• microbiological sampling plan in place and perform trend analysis
• microbiological sampling plan in place, perform tend analysis, and take appropriate actions if deviations are noted

Step 3: Review your establishment's operational activities

Operational activities

Distribution volume

For each food commodity you identified on your SFC licence you will be asked to provide:

• the total volume of product(s) that is domestically distributed from this establishment, on an annual basis
• the total volume of product(s) that is exported from this establishment, on an annual basis

When entering your establishment's distribution volume:

• only enter volume amounts
  • do not include spaces, commas or decimals in the volume amount
  • do not include the unit of measurement such as kilograms (kg) or litres (L)

For example:

Description of image – Screen capture of domestically distributed volume question

On an annual basis, what is the total volume of product(s) that is domestically distributed from this establishment? This is a required field.

Sub-products and proportion of volume distributed

The CFIA ERA-Food model has further divided each food commodity into sub-products, based on their associated risk.

For each commodity identified in your SFC licence, you will be asked to identify the ERA sub-products distributed by this establishment. Before doing this, refer to the Additional establishment information – glossary of terms to review the sub-products applicable to the commodity and their definitions.

Volume calculation

For each sub-product identified, you will be asked to provide its proportion (in percentage) of the total volume distributed by the establishment, identified as a percentage range. Distribution and sub-product volume calculations are based on the commodity and must be calculated per commodity.

• For the purposes of determining the sub-product proportion of volume distributed, the total volume is the "domestic + exported" distribution volume combined, for that commodity.
• The sub-product proportion of total volume distributed (in percentages) can be selected from a drop down menu, presented for each sub-product. If the establishment doesn't distribute a certain sub-product, please leave the drop down menu blank for that particular sub-product.
• The total of all proportions of volume for the selected sub-product must equal 100% (for a given commodity). If the percentage is less than or exceeds 100%, an error message will show asking you to review your values in such a way that the result equals 100%.

• If an establishment identified more than one commodity in their SFC licence they will be asked to provide volumes for each commodity, separately.

Process(es) / treatment(s)

In this section you will be asked to estimate the percentage of the total volume of products distributed (domestic and export combined) by the establishment that has been subjected to any of the applicable process(es) / treatment(s) at the establishment.

These processes or treatments could include:

• slicing, dicing, shredding or grinding of RTE products
• irradiation of food products approved by Health Canada
• high-pressure processing (HPP)
• carcass steam pasteurization of meat and poultry products
• modified atmosphere packaging (MAP)
• use of antimicrobials to control foodborne pathogens
• post-packaging thermal processes
• other – any other process(es) or treatment(s) not outlined above, you will be asked to name them

Note: For irradiation of food, high-pressure processing (HPP), carcass steam pasteurization, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), use of antimicrobials and post-packaging thermal processes, only identify these processes / treatments if they are validated.

Note: Slicing, dicing, shredding or grinding refers to the process of slicing, dicing, shredding or grinding of RTE products after a pathogen-lethality/inactivation step OR of RTE products not subjected to any pathogen-lethality/inactivation step.

Volume calculation for slicing, dicing, shredding or grinding RTE products is per commodity

You will be asked to identify the percentage of total volume of products distributed that are subject to slicing, dicing, shredding or grinding – for each food commodity identified (where applicable).

• For the purposes of calculating the percentage of total volume of products distributed that are subject to slicing, dicing, shredding or grinding:
  • the total volume is the "domestic + exported" distribution volume combined, for that commodity
  • the percentage of total volume is based on the volume of all sub-products for that commodity that are subject to slicing, dicing, shredding or grinding

When an establishment has more than one commodity with products subject to slicing, dicing, shredding or grinding, you will be asked to provide the percentage of total volume of product (includes all sub-products for the given commodity) – separately – for each commodity.

Volume calculation for process(es) / treatment(s) other than slicing, dicing, shredding or grinding – includes all commodities combined

For the purposes of calculating the percentage of total volume of products distributed that have been subject to a process / treatment – other than slicing, dicing…

• the total volume is the "domestically distributed + total volume exported" for all commodities combined
• the percentage of total volume distributed is based on the combined volume of all sub-products for all commodities that have been subject to the process / treatment.

Vulnerable sub-population

You will be asked to identify the percentage of total volume of products distributed (domestic and export combined) that are either directly intended for vulnerable sub-populations and/or distributed to an institution providing food to a vulnerable sub-population (for example: daycare centres, hospitals, or institutional care centers).

Volume calculation

For the calculation of the percentage of volume of products distributed to vulnerable population, include all sub-products for all commodities combined.

For the calculation of total volume distributed to vulnerable population, include the total volume domestically distributed and total volume exported by the establishment for all commodities combined.

Note: For volume calculations for distribution to a vulnerable population, the examples for process(es) / treatment(s) other than slicing, dicing, shredding or grinding can be followed.

Allergens and substances causing food intolerance

You will be asked to identify all allergens of importance or substances responsible for food intolerance that are handled, processed, and/or stored at your establishment. This list includes:

• peanuts
• milk
• soy
• gluten
• tree nuts
• eggs
• wheat
• sulphites
• sesame
• fish
• mustard
• crustaceans and molluscs

When dairy or eggs are identified as food commodities in the SFC licence, they are automatically identified as allergens in the Additional Establishment Information.

Listeria policy

Lastly, if applicable, you will be asked to specify the risk category from the Health Canada policy on Listeria monocytogenes in RTE foods (2011) for any RTE product(s) processed by your establishment. The categories are:

• category 1
• category 2A
• category 2B

Step 4: Find the additional establishment information section in your My CFIA account

Now that you know what information is expected to be provided, sign in to your My CFIA account, and ensure the validated party related to the additional establishment information being entered is selected. Click the white drop down box under Party Administration, and choose the proper validated party then click select:

After clicking Select, your dashboard will refresh and you will be presented with the Service Request section when you scroll down.

Just above the Service Request section there is a yellow box titled Important Information, in that box; select the hyperlink, additional establishment information, as shown in the image below:

Description of image – My CFIA dashboard Service Request section

Import information section circled in red to indicate where clients can click the additional information for establishments link.

Step 5: Select the establishment for which you are providing additional establishment information

After clicking on the additional establishment information link, you will be presented with a list of all establishments associated with your validated party. From this list, click on Status to begin providing your additional establishment information.

There are four possible status options:

• Start
  • You have never accessed the questionnaire before or the questionnaire must be reviewed following your licence renewal or amendment of the activities / commodities included
  • In the case of licence renewal or amendment, the questionnaire will not be reset, so the information previously provided will be available
  • Ensure the information is up to date and complete before resubmitting the questionnaire
• In progress
  • You have already accessed the questionnaire, but it has not yet been submitted
  • Submit the questionnaire after providing your additional establishment information
• Submitted
  • You have completed and submitted your additional establishment information
  • You can review the information you provided at any time to ensure it remains up to date
• N/A
  • Additional establishment information is not required for your establishment

Step 6: Enter your additional establishment information in My CFIA