. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/CAN/390 
16 April 2009  
 (09-1821) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
 
 
 
NOTIFICATION  
 
1. Notifying Member:  CANADA  
If applicable, name of local government involved:    
2. Agency responsible:  Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where applicable):  Ready-to-eat meat products (ICS Code 67.120) 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[ X ] All trading partners, or [   ] Specific regions or countries:    
5. Title of the notified document:  Meat Hygiene Directive on Control Measures for Listeria 
Language:  English and French  Number of pages:  24 and 27 
6. Description of content:  The section of the Manual of Procedures on Listeria has been 
updated.  The main changes are as follows: 
− Operators of CFIA registered establishments producing ready-to-eat (RTE) meat 
products must implement food contact surface testing programs in accordance with the prescribed requirements by 1 April 2009. 
− Where applicable, operators of CFIA regist ered establishments must also implement 
the "Risk based verification sampling of  RTE Meat and Poultry Products" by 
1 April 2009. 
− Any unsatisfactory result for food contact surfa ce or product testing must be notified to 
the inspector in charge and appropriate action must be taken. 
− Operators of CFIA registered establishments must perform trend analysis on their test 
results. 
− The CFIA has implemented a food contact surface testing plan in CFIA registered 
establishments producing RTE meat products (sampling plan M205). 
− Effective 1 April 2009, the food contact su rface testing plan will be implemented 
jointly with the product testing plan (sampling plan M200).  In 2009-10, the sampling frequency is six times per year per establishment. 
− The CFIA will be contacting competent authorities in countries exporting RTE meat 
products to Canada to conduc t equivalency determinations  of relevant meat hygiene 
programs. G/SPS/N/CAN/390 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [   ] animal health, [   ] plant protection, [  
 ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [   ] protect territory from other damage from pests.    
8. Is there a relevant international stan dard?  If so, identify the standard:  
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g.  title or serial number of Codex standard 
or related text)    
[   ] World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number)     
[   ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g.  ISPM N°)     
[ X ] None Does this proposed regulation conform to the relevant international standard?   
 [   ] Yes   [   ] No 
 If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard:    
9. Other relevant documents and language(s ) in which these are available:   
Canadian Food Inspection Agency's web site: 
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fs sa/meavia/man/ch5/table5e.shtml , Meat Hygiene 
Manual of Procedures, Chapter 5 - Sampling an d Testing (available in English and French) 
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) :  1 April 2009 
Propose date of publication ( dd/mm/yy) :  1 April 2009 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  [   ] Six months from date of publication , and/or  
(dd/mm/yy) :  1 April 2009 
[   ] Trade facilitating measure 
12. Final date for comments: [   ] Sixty days from the date of circulation of the 
notification and/or ( dd/mm/yy ):  9 June 2009 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [   ] National Notification 
Authority, [ X ] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:     
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National Notification Authority, [ X ] National Enquiry 
Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:    
The electronic version of the policy can be downloaded at:  
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fs sa/meavia/man/ch5/5-2e.shtml#a5-3  
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/francai s/fssa/meavia/man/ch5/5-2f.shtml