The
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has suspended the fish import licence of
Costco (Canada), effective February 26.
It
says it “has determined that adequate controls for food safety are not being
reliably implemented by the company on a consistent basis, which is in
violation of the Fish Inspection Regulations.
“There
is no recall associated with this suspension.
The
CFIA says in an e-mail to Ontario Farmer that
“the
import licence was suspended because Costco (Canada) distributed imported fish
products prior to required inspection by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency
(CFIA), contravening section 6(2.2) of the Fish Inspection Regulations.
In
addition, “the import licence was
suspended because Costco . . . did not
fulfill its obligation to notify the CFIA prior to the importation of the
products in question (within 48 hours of the receipt of imported products), as
required under paragraph 6(2)(e) of the Fish Inspection Regulations.
“Costco (Canada) is still
permitted to sell fish products, as long as they are purchased from another
federally regulated Canadian fish import company.
“However, they are not
permitted to import fish products into Canada while their import licence is
suspended.”
