Français

Compliance & Enforcement

Commercial feed manufacturers are still subjected to annual inspections by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).  In addition, feed manufacturers using ruminant meat-and-bone meal are subject to additional inspections to ensure compliance with the 2007 Enhanced Animal Health Protection from BSE.

 

Administrative Monetary Penalties

The CFIA is also seeking to expand the scope of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs) Regulations to include penalties for violations of the Health of Animals Regulations and Meat Inspection Regulations as they relate to the Enhanced Animal Health Protection from BSE. 

AMPs are monetary penalties or fines levied for contravention of regulatory obligations.  The purpose of the AMPs is to enhance the enforcement options currently available to the CFIA. The AMPs Act and its regulations establish an alternative to the existing penalty system and supplement current enforcement measures.  In July 2005, CFIA obtained the authority to issue AMPs of up to $6,000 for certain violations of the 1997 Feed Ban, including:

  • Feeding ‘prohibited material’ (ruminant meat-and-bone meal) to a ruminant;
  • Importing, manufacturing or offering for sale feed for ruminants that contains ‘prohibited material’;
  • Importing, manufacturing or offering for sale feeds for horses, pigs and poultry that contains ‘prohibited material’ without a label containing the cautionary statement and the required documentation;
  • Failure to document procedures to prevent the contamination of ruminant feeds with prohibited materials; and
  • Failure to keep records for the manufacture of ruminant, horse, pig and poultry feeds.

The violations listed above are in addition to existing monetary penalties that were put in place in June 2000 for a failure to report suspected and actual cases of BSE.  Schedule 1 to the AMPs Regulations contains the full listing of all violations and corresponding classification for which a fine may be levied. 

The classifications ‘minor’, ‘serious’, and ‘very serious’ serve as the determinant for the base amount of the fine levied for a particular violation (i.e. the more serious the offence, the higher the fine). Violator’s have the option of paying the penalty, requesting to enter into a compliance agreement (i.e. a contract between the commercial violator and the CFIA which outlines specific actions that must be taken to ensure future compliance), or requesting a review by a senior CFIA official or a Review Tribunal. An inspector’s decision to issue a monetary penalty is made by the inspector after he/she consults with his/her supervisor and CFIA’s Enforcement and Inspection Services Division.