FDA, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Department of Health Canada (Health Canada) will consider the oversight of the other when prioritizing inspection activities.
"Canada and the US have confidence in each other's regulatory systems. Cooperation between our countries is fundamental to providing and contributing to a safe food supply,” said Paul Mayers, VP, policy and programs at the CFIA.
Importers can have more confidence that a product meets the country's requirements. Imports into Canada must continue to meet Canadian requirements, and those into the US must continue to meet all applicable American requirements.
The FDA did a systems recognition review and assessment using the International Comparability Assessment Tool (ICAT).
"Under the US Regulatory Cooperation Council, the countries intend to better align their food safety regulatory systems, reduce unnecessary duplication, enhance information sharing, and to the extent possible, leverage resources so that the agencies can better meet their public health objectives," said Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, FDA.
The FDA recognized New Zealand as the first foreign system comparable in 2012. A similar process is underway between the agency and Australia and the European Commission.
Meanwhile, the AOAC has released the 20th Edition of the Official Methods of Analysis (OMA) - the compendium of more than 3,000 methods adopted by AOAC.
The edition reflects AOAC’s standards development activities in food, infant formula, dietary supplements, veterinary drug residues, and biothreat detection and features First Action methods and Standard Method Performance Requirements (SMPRs).
Edited by George Latimer (retired, office of the Texas State Chemist), it builds on the last one in September 2012 (19th Edition).