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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s integrated inspection system
Food Control 10 (1999) 311±314
www.elsevier.com/locate/foodcont
The Canadian Food Inspection AgencyÕs integrated inspection system Vance McEachern *, Krista Mountjoy q Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Planning and Coordination Directorate, Inspection Strategies Div, 59 Camelot Drive, Nepean, ON, Canada K1A 0Y9 Received 18 October 1998; received in revised form 19 May 1999; accepted 20 May 1999
Abstract On 1 April 1997, the government of Canada consolidated the federally mandated food inspection, animal health and plant protection programs under the new Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). This was an important step in enhancing the ef®ciency and eectiveness of the federal food inspection system. The new agency is now focusing on developing a fully integrated inspection system that provides the appropriate level of food safety and consumer protection; and continues to facilitate market access for Canadian food products. The agency is evolving its programs through the development of an Integrated Inspection System (IIS) which will bring a consistent inspection approach to all agency programs and will be based on risk, sound science and will promote the use of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles by the food industry. The development of the ``Integrated Inspection System'' involves two inter-related initiatives; 1. The development of a single integrated inspection system reference standard that will outline the essential elements of a comprehensive food inspection system and will serve as a benchmark for the re-engineering of the existing food inspection programs within the agency. 2. The analysis and redesign of the current food inspection strategies that will entail mapping the food continuum from production to consumption, identifying the hazards along the continuum, examining the eectiveness and eciency of the control strategies in place and designing new strategies where required. Through the development of the IIS, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is continuing to evolve a more eective and ecient inspection system which will better equip the agency to meet its mandate of safe food, consumer protection and market access. Ó 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. The creation of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) The government of Canada decided in 1996 to consolidate all federally mandated food inspection activities into one single agency to enhance eectiveness and ef®ciency. At the federal level, responsibility for food safety and inspection has been historically shared by four federal departments; Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, Health Canada, Industry Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 1998). On 1 April 1997, the food inspection programs of these four departments were amalgamated
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-613-2252342 x4579; fax: +1-613228-6654. q Presented at the 2nd Annual HACCP Veri®cation Workshop, June 1998, The Netherlands.
under a single agency, the CFIA, reporting to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. The CFIA is responsible for all federal food inspection activities, which extend from the production of animal feeds along the food production and process chain to the distribution and retail stages. A primary goal of the agency is to enhance the eectiveness and eciency of the Canadian food inspection system in achieving safe food, market access and consumer protection. The CFIA will also play a lead role to ensure that Canada has an inspection system that provides for ease of access to international markets by continuing to participate in international standard-setting forums as well as working toward international harmonization and equivalency in inspection systems. Although Health Canada has transferred its responsibilities for food inspection to the CFIA, it has retained its role for setting policies and standards related to the safety and nutritional quality of food sold
0956-7135/99/$ - see front matter Ó 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 9 5 6 - 7 1 3 5 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 5 6 - 0
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V. McEachern, K. Mountjoy / Food Control 10 (1999) 311±314
in Canada. Health Canada is also responsible for undertaking a systematic and independent examination of the food safety components of the food inspection program of the agency to verify its eectiveness in achieving compliance with Canadian health and safety standards (Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 1998).
2. The current Canadian food inspection environment The formation of the CFIA brought together over 18 dierent food inspection programs under one roof. These 18 dierent programs share many of the same fundamental food inspection principles and have similar goals and objectives, however, they have evolved independently under dierent environments and dierent forces. The level of government intervention and industry responsibility varies from program to program and is not necessarily related to risk. Products of equal risk, but of dierent commodity groups, are subject to dierent inspection regimes. This is confusing to an industry which is rapidly becoming more diversi®ed and is processing multiple commodities in the same facility. Also, under the present environment, government must operate several dierent systems where possibly one would do. The variety of programs can also be confusing to consumers and complicates the trade of food products. Food safety in Canada is a shared responsibility between all partners including, all levels of government (federal, provincial and municipal), industry and consumers. Although the federal inspection activities have been consolidated, there are still approximately 25 different food inspection agencies at the provincial and municipal levels. These agencies play an important role in the delivery of CanadaÕs food inspection system and the CFIA will work with them to enhance the eectiveness and eciency of the system. Industry is another important partner and is responsible for the production, processing and sale of safe, high quality food in compliance with established standards. As the CFIA evolves to food control strategies which embody the principles of HACCP and quality management systems industry will assume a greater role in controlling their products and processes. Industry will play a key role in developing the new strategies and the time lines for making the transition. The role of consumers in achieving safe food cannot be overemphasized. Consumers have the right to be informed about the food they eat and have the responsibility to handle food properly. CFIA is committed to consulting with consumers on food inspection strategies and will support eorts in the area of consumer education.
3. The integrated inspection system The Integrated Inspection System (IIS) can be de®ned as ``one inspection system for all food commodities, where industry is responsible for controlling their products and processes in compliance with the recognized standards and government is responsible for verifying the eectiveness of industryÕs control systems''. The main objectives of the IIS are; to integrate the CFIA inspection programs under a common set of guiding principles and a common discipline, to reduce the risks that may exist along the food continuum and to integrate and inter-link the goals, objectives and activities of all players along the food continuum. The IIS will promote and provide the mechanisms to transfer inspection and control responsibilities from government to industry. Through the application of the principles of HACCP and quality management, industry will inherit greater responsibilities in controlling their products and processes. As the CFIA inspection programs evolve under the IIS, industry will be required to be knowledgeable of the potential hazards associated with their products and processes and to develop and implement control measures to meet the established standards. A knowledgeable and diligent industry will create an extra line of defence in the prevention of non-compliant food products. Controls will be proactive and preventative and the philosophy will shift from ``see a problem ± ®x it'' to ``see a cause ± prevent it''. Government will maintain its responsibility in establishing the base line standards and guidelines for the development of industry controls. A second line of defence will be provided by government assessment (inspection, audit, veri®cation and validation) of industryÕs systems and outputs. Integration will occur on several levels of the Canadian food inspection system. The various commodity inspection programs within CFIA will be harmonized and integrated under one system based upon one discipline and a set of common principles. The integrated system will also apply to the import, export and domestic inspection programs. The IIS will integrate the dierent inspection approaches used to achieve food safety, consumer protection and market access under one system. Rather than using three dierent approaches to inspect these dierent components of product or process IIS will bring these eorts under one approach based on the same principles and discipline. Within the CFIA the eorts of the program Branch, Field Operations Branch and Laboratories, will be integrated under common goals and objectives. The IIS will be available for application by all stakeholders involved in achieving safe and compliant food, which includes CFIA, the provincial and municipal inspection agencies and, where appropriate, private industry through third party veri®cation.
V. McEachern, K. Mountjoy / Food Control 10 (1999) 311±314
4. The guiding principles of the integrated inspection system The development of the IIS will be guided by the following principles. The IIS will be: 1. Consistent with the AgencyÕs mandate and priorities; · Safe food, · Market access and · Consumer protection. 2. Consistent with international obligations and standard setting bodies (Codex Alimentarius, Oce Internationale des Epizooties, World Trade Organization, International Plant Protection Convention). 3. Science and risk based. 4. Applicable along the food continuum and across commodities. 5. Based on HACCP and/or recognized quality management principles. 6. Based on legal framework and mandatory implementation where appropriate. 7. Based on the premise that industry is responsible for their products and processes and to demonstrate effective management of identi®ed hazards. 8. Based on the premise that government veri®es industryÕs controls to determine their eectiveness and takes the necessary action if the controls are ineective in achieving safe food, consumer protection and market access requirements and standards. 9. Based on the premise that the consumer plays a legitimate and responsible role in safe food handling practices. 10. Consistent with and respect the CFIA values and principles and the CFIA human resource strategy.
313
11. Developed jointly with CFIAÕs partners through an open and transparent consultation process. The IIS will be created through two inter-related initiatives, the development of an Integrated Inspection System Reference Standard and the analysis and redesign of the current food inspection activities along the food continuum. These two initiatives will be discussed in the following sections. 5. The integrated inspection system reference standard The reference standard concept has been based on concepts from the International Standards Organization 9000 series and the fundamental principles of audit. The IIS Reference Standard will serve as a primary tool in the integration of the CFIA food inspection programs by guiding their evolution under a common discipline sharing the same principles and inspection and audit methods. It will also be used to develop similar types of programs and food control strategies along the food continuum. The reference standard will specify the quality system requirements of the CFIAÕs IIS and will be designed for application by all stakeholders, including industry, government and third parties, along the food continuum. A brief description of each of the elements is provided in Table 1 ± The IIS reference standard elements. In the development of an inspection program using the reference standard, the roles and responsibilities of industry and government would be de®ned. In most cases, but not all, the industry will be responsible for delivering the primary controls during harvesting, production processing etc. and government will be respon-
Table 1 The IIS reference standard elements Elements 1. Scope 2. Background information 3. Prerequisite program 4. Regulatory/trade requirements 5. Food safety controls 6. Recall 7. Training 8. Records 9. Document control 10. Veri®cation
Description The range, application, and objectives of the CFIA food inspection program All documentation relevant to the CFIA food inspection program The CFIA food inspection program strategy that is relevant for the control of operations in an environment designed, constructed and maintained in a condition that prevents or controls all potential hazards The CFIA food inspection program strategy that is relevant for the control of non-safety regulatory and trade requirements pertaining to products, packaging and labeling The CFIA food inspection program strategy that is relevant to ensure that all potential food safety hazards are either prevented, eliminated or reduced to acceptable levels The CFIA food inspection program strategy that is relevant for rapid recall of product The CFIA food inspection program strategy that is relevant for applicable training of personnel engaged in production activities which may aect ®nal product The CFIA food inspection program strategy which is relevant to the recording of inspection, testing and veri®cation activities The CFIA food inspection program strategy which is relevant to the control and distribution of original documents and subsequent amendments The CFIA food inspection program strategy which is relevant to the establishment of activities to assess program eectiveness and ensure program maintenance
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V. McEachern, K. Mountjoy / Food Control 10 (1999) 311±314
sible for assessing the eectiveness of the controls. In some cases there may be a role for third party veri®cation of industryÕs systems.
who is best suited to deliver the controls, how will the controls be veri®ed and who is best suited to verify the controls.
6. The analysis of the food continuum
7. Conclusion
The second component critical to the development of the IIS will be the analysis of the food continuum from production to consumption. The objectives of this exercise will be to examine and evaluate the current food safety control strategies that are being applied along the food continuum. As systematic approaches to food inspection, such as HACCP and quality systems, replace the traditional inspection approaches, there will be opportunities to realign the inspection eorts of government and other parties. CFIA must work closely with its partners in the analysis of the food continuum. It is foreseen that the analysis will be carried out through the establishement of CFIA-cooridinated speci®c commodity committees representative of the stakeholders who will receive scienti®c and technical support from the government food inspection agencies and universities. The task of the commodity committees will be to map out the food continuum for their speci®c products and then with scienti®c support identify the hazards along the food continuum related to safe food, consumer protection and market access. The current control measures will then be analyzed to determine their effectiveness and eciency in preventing, eliminating or reducing the hazards to acceptable levels. In cases where the inspection system can be enhanced the committees will use the IIS Reference Standard to develop new control strategies. The control strategies will identify the most eective point for control along the food continuum, the control measures that are to be implemented,
The creation of the CFIA was the ®rst step towards fully integrating the Canadian food inspection system. The launching of the IIS is the next important step in this eort. The overall objective of the IIS is to integrate and inter-link the goals, objectives and activities of all players along the food continuum. The process will determine the most eective and ecient points for intervention along the food continuum to control the hazards and identify who is best suited to deliver the controls and who is best suited to verify the ecacy of those controls. This will be achieved through the development and application of the IIS Reference Standard to harmonize and integrate the dierent food inspection programs currently administered by the CFIA and through the analysis of the control strategies currently in place along the food continuum. The IIS provides a vision for the future that will enhance the eectiveness and eciency of the Canadian food inspection system. The goals of the IIS are ambitious and will not be achieved overnight. By working with its partners within Canada and internationally, CFIA will continue to strengthen the Canadian food inspection system and maintain its reputation as providing Canadians and international markets with safe, high quality food. References Canadian Food Inspection Agency (1998). Corporate Business Plan 1997±2000. Publication Number P0044E-98.
www.elsevier.com/locate/foodcont
The Canadian Food Inspection AgencyÕs integrated inspection system Vance McEachern *, Krista Mountjoy q Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Planning and Coordination Directorate, Inspection Strategies Div, 59 Camelot Drive, Nepean, ON, Canada K1A 0Y9 Received 18 October 1998; received in revised form 19 May 1999; accepted 20 May 1999
Abstract On 1 April 1997, the government of Canada consolidated the federally mandated food inspection, animal health and plant protection programs under the new Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). This was an important step in enhancing the ef®ciency and eectiveness of the federal food inspection system. The new agency is now focusing on developing a fully integrated inspection system that provides the appropriate level of food safety and consumer protection; and continues to facilitate market access for Canadian food products. The agency is evolving its programs through the development of an Integrated Inspection System (IIS) which will bring a consistent inspection approach to all agency programs and will be based on risk, sound science and will promote the use of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles by the food industry. The development of the ``Integrated Inspection System'' involves two inter-related initiatives; 1. The development of a single integrated inspection system reference standard that will outline the essential elements of a comprehensive food inspection system and will serve as a benchmark for the re-engineering of the existing food inspection programs within the agency. 2. The analysis and redesign of the current food inspection strategies that will entail mapping the food continuum from production to consumption, identifying the hazards along the continuum, examining the eectiveness and eciency of the control strategies in place and designing new strategies where required. Through the development of the IIS, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is continuing to evolve a more eective and ecient inspection system which will better equip the agency to meet its mandate of safe food, consumer protection and market access. Ó 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. The creation of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) The government of Canada decided in 1996 to consolidate all federally mandated food inspection activities into one single agency to enhance eectiveness and ef®ciency. At the federal level, responsibility for food safety and inspection has been historically shared by four federal departments; Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, Health Canada, Industry Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 1998). On 1 April 1997, the food inspection programs of these four departments were amalgamated
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-613-2252342 x4579; fax: +1-613228-6654. q Presented at the 2nd Annual HACCP Veri®cation Workshop, June 1998, The Netherlands.
under a single agency, the CFIA, reporting to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food Canada. The CFIA is responsible for all federal food inspection activities, which extend from the production of animal feeds along the food production and process chain to the distribution and retail stages. A primary goal of the agency is to enhance the eectiveness and eciency of the Canadian food inspection system in achieving safe food, market access and consumer protection. The CFIA will also play a lead role to ensure that Canada has an inspection system that provides for ease of access to international markets by continuing to participate in international standard-setting forums as well as working toward international harmonization and equivalency in inspection systems. Although Health Canada has transferred its responsibilities for food inspection to the CFIA, it has retained its role for setting policies and standards related to the safety and nutritional quality of food sold
0956-7135/99/$ - see front matter Ó 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 9 5 6 - 7 1 3 5 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 5 6 - 0
312
V. McEachern, K. Mountjoy / Food Control 10 (1999) 311±314
in Canada. Health Canada is also responsible for undertaking a systematic and independent examination of the food safety components of the food inspection program of the agency to verify its eectiveness in achieving compliance with Canadian health and safety standards (Canadian Food Inspection Agency, 1998).
2. The current Canadian food inspection environment The formation of the CFIA brought together over 18 dierent food inspection programs under one roof. These 18 dierent programs share many of the same fundamental food inspection principles and have similar goals and objectives, however, they have evolved independently under dierent environments and dierent forces. The level of government intervention and industry responsibility varies from program to program and is not necessarily related to risk. Products of equal risk, but of dierent commodity groups, are subject to dierent inspection regimes. This is confusing to an industry which is rapidly becoming more diversi®ed and is processing multiple commodities in the same facility. Also, under the present environment, government must operate several dierent systems where possibly one would do. The variety of programs can also be confusing to consumers and complicates the trade of food products. Food safety in Canada is a shared responsibility between all partners including, all levels of government (federal, provincial and municipal), industry and consumers. Although the federal inspection activities have been consolidated, there are still approximately 25 different food inspection agencies at the provincial and municipal levels. These agencies play an important role in the delivery of CanadaÕs food inspection system and the CFIA will work with them to enhance the eectiveness and eciency of the system. Industry is another important partner and is responsible for the production, processing and sale of safe, high quality food in compliance with established standards. As the CFIA evolves to food control strategies which embody the principles of HACCP and quality management systems industry will assume a greater role in controlling their products and processes. Industry will play a key role in developing the new strategies and the time lines for making the transition. The role of consumers in achieving safe food cannot be overemphasized. Consumers have the right to be informed about the food they eat and have the responsibility to handle food properly. CFIA is committed to consulting with consumers on food inspection strategies and will support eorts in the area of consumer education.
3. The integrated inspection system The Integrated Inspection System (IIS) can be de®ned as ``one inspection system for all food commodities, where industry is responsible for controlling their products and processes in compliance with the recognized standards and government is responsible for verifying the eectiveness of industryÕs control systems''. The main objectives of the IIS are; to integrate the CFIA inspection programs under a common set of guiding principles and a common discipline, to reduce the risks that may exist along the food continuum and to integrate and inter-link the goals, objectives and activities of all players along the food continuum. The IIS will promote and provide the mechanisms to transfer inspection and control responsibilities from government to industry. Through the application of the principles of HACCP and quality management, industry will inherit greater responsibilities in controlling their products and processes. As the CFIA inspection programs evolve under the IIS, industry will be required to be knowledgeable of the potential hazards associated with their products and processes and to develop and implement control measures to meet the established standards. A knowledgeable and diligent industry will create an extra line of defence in the prevention of non-compliant food products. Controls will be proactive and preventative and the philosophy will shift from ``see a problem ± ®x it'' to ``see a cause ± prevent it''. Government will maintain its responsibility in establishing the base line standards and guidelines for the development of industry controls. A second line of defence will be provided by government assessment (inspection, audit, veri®cation and validation) of industryÕs systems and outputs. Integration will occur on several levels of the Canadian food inspection system. The various commodity inspection programs within CFIA will be harmonized and integrated under one system based upon one discipline and a set of common principles. The integrated system will also apply to the import, export and domestic inspection programs. The IIS will integrate the dierent inspection approaches used to achieve food safety, consumer protection and market access under one system. Rather than using three dierent approaches to inspect these dierent components of product or process IIS will bring these eorts under one approach based on the same principles and discipline. Within the CFIA the eorts of the program Branch, Field Operations Branch and Laboratories, will be integrated under common goals and objectives. The IIS will be available for application by all stakeholders involved in achieving safe and compliant food, which includes CFIA, the provincial and municipal inspection agencies and, where appropriate, private industry through third party veri®cation.
V. McEachern, K. Mountjoy / Food Control 10 (1999) 311±314
4. The guiding principles of the integrated inspection system The development of the IIS will be guided by the following principles. The IIS will be: 1. Consistent with the AgencyÕs mandate and priorities; · Safe food, · Market access and · Consumer protection. 2. Consistent with international obligations and standard setting bodies (Codex Alimentarius, Oce Internationale des Epizooties, World Trade Organization, International Plant Protection Convention). 3. Science and risk based. 4. Applicable along the food continuum and across commodities. 5. Based on HACCP and/or recognized quality management principles. 6. Based on legal framework and mandatory implementation where appropriate. 7. Based on the premise that industry is responsible for their products and processes and to demonstrate effective management of identi®ed hazards. 8. Based on the premise that government veri®es industryÕs controls to determine their eectiveness and takes the necessary action if the controls are ineective in achieving safe food, consumer protection and market access requirements and standards. 9. Based on the premise that the consumer plays a legitimate and responsible role in safe food handling practices. 10. Consistent with and respect the CFIA values and principles and the CFIA human resource strategy.
313
11. Developed jointly with CFIAÕs partners through an open and transparent consultation process. The IIS will be created through two inter-related initiatives, the development of an Integrated Inspection System Reference Standard and the analysis and redesign of the current food inspection activities along the food continuum. These two initiatives will be discussed in the following sections. 5. The integrated inspection system reference standard The reference standard concept has been based on concepts from the International Standards Organization 9000 series and the fundamental principles of audit. The IIS Reference Standard will serve as a primary tool in the integration of the CFIA food inspection programs by guiding their evolution under a common discipline sharing the same principles and inspection and audit methods. It will also be used to develop similar types of programs and food control strategies along the food continuum. The reference standard will specify the quality system requirements of the CFIAÕs IIS and will be designed for application by all stakeholders, including industry, government and third parties, along the food continuum. A brief description of each of the elements is provided in Table 1 ± The IIS reference standard elements. In the development of an inspection program using the reference standard, the roles and responsibilities of industry and government would be de®ned. In most cases, but not all, the industry will be responsible for delivering the primary controls during harvesting, production processing etc. and government will be respon-
Table 1 The IIS reference standard elements Elements 1. Scope 2. Background information 3. Prerequisite program 4. Regulatory/trade requirements 5. Food safety controls 6. Recall 7. Training 8. Records 9. Document control 10. Veri®cation
Description The range, application, and objectives of the CFIA food inspection program All documentation relevant to the CFIA food inspection program The CFIA food inspection program strategy that is relevant for the control of operations in an environment designed, constructed and maintained in a condition that prevents or controls all potential hazards The CFIA food inspection program strategy that is relevant for the control of non-safety regulatory and trade requirements pertaining to products, packaging and labeling The CFIA food inspection program strategy that is relevant to ensure that all potential food safety hazards are either prevented, eliminated or reduced to acceptable levels The CFIA food inspection program strategy that is relevant for rapid recall of product The CFIA food inspection program strategy that is relevant for applicable training of personnel engaged in production activities which may aect ®nal product The CFIA food inspection program strategy which is relevant to the recording of inspection, testing and veri®cation activities The CFIA food inspection program strategy which is relevant to the control and distribution of original documents and subsequent amendments The CFIA food inspection program strategy which is relevant to the establishment of activities to assess program eectiveness and ensure program maintenance
314
V. McEachern, K. Mountjoy / Food Control 10 (1999) 311±314
sible for assessing the eectiveness of the controls. In some cases there may be a role for third party veri®cation of industryÕs systems.
who is best suited to deliver the controls, how will the controls be veri®ed and who is best suited to verify the controls.
6. The analysis of the food continuum
7. Conclusion
The second component critical to the development of the IIS will be the analysis of the food continuum from production to consumption. The objectives of this exercise will be to examine and evaluate the current food safety control strategies that are being applied along the food continuum. As systematic approaches to food inspection, such as HACCP and quality systems, replace the traditional inspection approaches, there will be opportunities to realign the inspection eorts of government and other parties. CFIA must work closely with its partners in the analysis of the food continuum. It is foreseen that the analysis will be carried out through the establishement of CFIA-cooridinated speci®c commodity committees representative of the stakeholders who will receive scienti®c and technical support from the government food inspection agencies and universities. The task of the commodity committees will be to map out the food continuum for their speci®c products and then with scienti®c support identify the hazards along the food continuum related to safe food, consumer protection and market access. The current control measures will then be analyzed to determine their effectiveness and eciency in preventing, eliminating or reducing the hazards to acceptable levels. In cases where the inspection system can be enhanced the committees will use the IIS Reference Standard to develop new control strategies. The control strategies will identify the most eective point for control along the food continuum, the control measures that are to be implemented,
The creation of the CFIA was the ®rst step towards fully integrating the Canadian food inspection system. The launching of the IIS is the next important step in this eort. The overall objective of the IIS is to integrate and inter-link the goals, objectives and activities of all players along the food continuum. The process will determine the most eective and ecient points for intervention along the food continuum to control the hazards and identify who is best suited to deliver the controls and who is best suited to verify the ecacy of those controls. This will be achieved through the development and application of the IIS Reference Standard to harmonize and integrate the dierent food inspection programs currently administered by the CFIA and through the analysis of the control strategies currently in place along the food continuum. The IIS provides a vision for the future that will enhance the eectiveness and eciency of the Canadian food inspection system. The goals of the IIS are ambitious and will not be achieved overnight. By working with its partners within Canada and internationally, CFIA will continue to strengthen the Canadian food inspection system and maintain its reputation as providing Canadians and international markets with safe, high quality food. References Canadian Food Inspection Agency (1998). Corporate Business Plan 1997±2000. Publication Number P0044E-98.