Canada - Changes To Import Regulations
 

I made an enquiry with Nature's Variety recently; a local pet store said they would no longer carry Nature's Variety pet food due to Canadian regulatory changes.

Sorry if this has already been covered in another thread, but this was a bit of a surprise to me to say the least.

This is the response I received from Nature's Variety tonight:

[quote][I]Recently Canada has changed their import laws and we are waiting for the paperwork to process. We will no longer be to able to import beef products into Canada, though based on the changes made to the regulations.[/I][/quote]

They specifically mentioned beef products but I've asked for clarification, if this also covers other products such as chicken / turkey etc.

Does anyone else have more info on the regulatory changes and what we can expect? I'd hate to start losing favourite brands of quality cat food! :frustrated:

[B]EDIT: They since e-mailed me back to say it's limited to beef "at this point".[/B]

Oh Boy! Has there been changes! For some reason, pets seems to be wonky tonight and I can't attach a file which explains the CFIA regulatory changes on pet food imports. :shrug:

There are six documents which outline this change and it will be increasingly more difficult for importers to import Non-Canadian pet food products.

The documents are very confusing! :confused:

Can you post links to your sources.

I found a bit of info this morning - I'll read through it when I get home from work this evening.

[url]http://www.petfoodindustry.com/ViewNews.aspx?id=25260[/url]

Thanks DougG. Was it your impression that Nature's Variety was not going to conform to these new regulations?

It's hard to tell - NV's response (verbatim in my post above) is informative but vague at the same time and I am not really sure how to interpret what they said.

I don't know what they mean by "waiting for the paperwork to process" (are they currently going through the compliance process? Or formalising the withdrawal of certain products?) - while in the next sentence they said they will "no longer be able to import beef products" which sounds pretty final. But maybe they meant that while their compliance is in process, beef imports are suspended. Who knows. I might e-mail them again this evening.

I don't feed my Himmies a lot of beef products at all, but the NV Prairie stew is a favourite treat of theirs and I'd hate to be unable to give it to them anymore. I also worry that somehow this is the tip of the iceberg.

[QUOTE=klmccallum;858715]Oh Boy! Has there been changes! For some reason, pets seems to be wonky tonight and I can't attach a file which explains the CFIA regulatory changes on pet food imports. :shrug:

There are six documents which outline this change and it will be increasingly more difficult for importers to import Non-Canadian pet food products.

The documents are very confusing! :confused:[/QUOTE]

:sorry: but I had to give up on Pets last night. :sad: In any event, here is a master document which outlines the import process for animal food products. The PDF file was too large to attach so I had to make it into a text file. :sad:

The remaining 5 documents are a bunch of questionaires and checklists for importers/foreign establishments (I didn't attach them).



[QUOTE=Love4himies;858800]Can you post links to your sources.[/QUOTE]

Happy reading! If you would like this in the PDF format you can PM me and I'll pass along. :thumbs up

[ATTACH]60425[/ATTACH]

I found out about this a little while ago. It's only beef products that can't be imported. Would have been nice for people to have been given a heads up on this instead of finding out once the food they've been feeding is no longer available.

clm

Nature's Variety should be in Canada again by mid December.

They have dropped their beef products, and have moved their production to a beef free facility. This gets them around all the new CIFA BSE regulations for pet food imported into Canada.

I have not had a problem purchasing NV at all.:shrug: Even the beef flavour.

[QUOTE=Love4himies;859259]I have not had a problem purchasing NV at all.:shrug: Even the beef flavour.[/QUOTE]

Same here. The NV beef is my cat's favourite, so I hope they don't stop producing it. The way I understand it, is that bovine [I]muscle meat [/I]isn't a problem, it's the by-products that are. NV doesn't contain beef by-products. :shrug:

That scared me. So I wont be able to get beef anymore but the rest of their line will be readily available?

Did they stop shipping to Canada? Does this mean there will be a shortage?

[QUOTE=Elizabeth Ann;859269] Does this mean there will be a shortage?[/QUOTE]

Not sure. I thought these regulations were supposed to take effect last July or so, but I haven't seen any issues with high quality beef-based pet food yet in my area. Supposedly it's hard to find Purina beef products (like Fancy Feast) in Canada these days, but I haven't really looked for them myself so I can't say if even that's the case.

My main concern is with N/V as I feed this to my dogs for breakfast. They LOVE it and I would hate to have to switch them to something else.

I called Global and they were told by the NV rep, that there is still lots at the warehouse. I then e-mailed NV and will hopefully hear back from them tomorrow.

Their response:

Dear Deb,

Thanks for emailing. Yes, Canada did change their import laws recently and we have submitted the new paperwork and are awaiting approval so we can begin our shipments again. However, the regulations have changed severely enough on beef, that we can no longer import any of our beef products. We are looking into possible manufacturers in Canada, though.

Sincerely,


Customer Service
Nature's Variety

Thanks so much for the info.

From the link from klmccallum:

[COLOR="Red"]Pet food may be dry, semi-moist, or moist, and can be made from [I]meat[/I], organs, and/or animal by-
products from cattle, poultry, pork, lamb, or fish. [/COLOR]

So it looks like even muscle meat.

Regulations concerning non-boivine products ( this is what NV is in the midst of doing)

[COLOR="Red"]Commercially prepared pet food, in cans or retortable pouches, and pet treats
Commercially prepared and processed pet food, pet treats, and compound/stuffed pet chews
containing animal by-products (e.g. meat, fish, organ meats, bone meal, meat meal, blood meal,
fish meal, rendered animal fats, gluestock):

United States:

i)
Pet food containing non-bovinae ingredients from the United States (U.S.) (i.e.
poultry, fish, pork)

Import permit – required to import the pet food. An import permit will be issued by

Headquarters, only after the successful completion of a risk assessment. The attached

Facility Questionnaire: Importation of Pet Foods/Treats/Compound Chews from the U.S.
Containing Only Non-Bovinae Animal Ingredients (Annex 2) must be completed and
submitted with the import permit application.

Once the permit is approved, the following documents must accompany each shipment:

•
Import permit
•
Importer Statement of Compliance
Each non-bovinae shipment must be accompanied by the Importer Statement of
Compliance (Annex 5), using the importer’s letterhead, signed, dated, and linked to
the shipment.
•
Canada Customs Invoice (CCI), or a commercial invoice
The CCI must link to the shipment and clearly describe the product(s) being imported,
indicating the country of origin and end use.
ii)
Pet food containing bovinae ingredients from the U.S. (cattle, bison, buffalo, and
exotics)[/COLOR]

its been like this for a little while. last year we went across the border and we had a small baggy of orijen dogfood, the american borders said they are only letting us keep it because we had a dog and the dog needs to eat. but don't do it again! the main concern was if there was any beef in it.

The canadian side asked the same thing, but said because were canadian, its a canadian product, they weren't too worried.