For the effective regulation of such products, federal legislation and regulations are also required. Only the federal government can control food products that are imported into Canada. These controls come in many types. Some products are severely restricted in respect to the amount and type of product that can be imported. Over time they will be reduced, but the present intent is that these tariffs are high enough to form a barrier to any imports above the limited permitted amount.
Similar restrictions apply to poultry and egg products.
There are also some non-tariff barriers to imports. Imports of live hogs from the United States have been banned for many years as a health precaution because the states from which they came could not be certified to be free from pseudo-rabies. In addition to outright bans or high tariffs, there are many regulations that deal with the health and quality of imported food products of various types. All of these regulations come from the federal government, since under the Canadian constitutional system, provinces have no power to restrict or control imports. The federal legislation also establishes a federal agency, the Canadian Dairy Commission, that has the power to set quotas in respect to the production of milk and milk products for interprovincial or export trade.