Inspection Verification Teams

The Harper Government will invest $15.77 million over the next three years to establish Inspection Verification Teams (IVTs) to oversee the performance of Canada’s entire food inspection system.

The goal is to ensure that Canadian families have confidence in our food safety system and that a consistent level of rigour is applied across the country. In addition, the IVTs allow the CFIA to look for ways to continually improve and strengthen Canada’s inspection system.

IVTs will conduct unannounced spot checks of plants across the country. They will assess plants’ food safety controls and operations, as well as inspection activities in federally registered establishments. The aim of the IVTs is to ensure that the overall food safety system is effective and that food safety rules and standards are consistently and thoroughly followed and enforced.

Based on a detailed risk analysis, IVTs will:

• examine targeted areas of a company's preventative control plan to determine if they are adequate and are being implemented effectively;
• examine CFIA inspection activities to determine if they are working and are being delivered as to program design and requirements;
• identify and detail company specific findings and refer to CFIA regional management for follow-up; and
• identify and trend systemic findings to be addressed at the national level.

The CFIA expects IVTs to be in place later this year.

Any non-compliance identified during IVT assessments which could affect food safety will be dealt with immediately. In addition, results of these targeted reviews will be compiled to identify trends, best practices and/or areas for improvement.