The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Position on whether Specified Risk Material (SRM) should be classified as Hazardous Material

Issue:

Should SRM be classified as Hazardous Material?

Background:

Provinces have asked the CFIA for its position on whether SRM should be classified as hazardous material. The request relates to the environmental assessment requirements for projects funded by AAFC/provincial agreements for the management of SRM.

Decision:

From a CFIA perspective, SRM should neither be considered nor managed as "hazardous material".

Rationale:

Using Transport Canada's classification system, samples of SRM sent to laboratories for routine bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) surveillance testing are not deemed to be hazardous material, thus SRM in general should be classified in the same manner.

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