Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001
Questions and Answers

Why did we need new food safety legislation?

Ontario has an excellent record on food safety. This is in part because the government and agri-food industry have continually worked together to create a strong food safety system for the province. New technologies, scientific advances, changing diets, new food hazards and evolving trade requirements mean there is a constant need for renewal to minimize risks to both public health and the economy.

The Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001provides the backbone for a science-based, seamless system of ensuring safe food in Ontario from field to fork.

What does the legislation do? How will it work?

The Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001 is enabling legislation that enhances the provincial government's capacity to maintain high standards of food safety, protect consumer health and increase the marketability of Ontario food products. Under the Act, the food safety and quality requirements of six current food-related acts will be modified to include:
- consistent standards and requirements to better protect the public from food-borne hazards;
- enhanced enforcement actions to ensure compliance with legislation, and;
- tools to help with a timely and effective response to a food safety crisis, including the ability to trace back to find the source of a contaminated food, and 'trace forward' to determine where it has been distributed.

The new Act was developed as part of an ongoing review of Ontario's food safety system. It will not come into effect until regulations are put in place under the new Act.

How will regulations be developed?

Regulations developed under the Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001 will be developed based upon an assessment of the risks along the food production and processing system. A risk-based system uses scientific knowledge to proactively identify the food safety risks along the entire food chain. After potential hazards have been identified, appropriate measures including regulatory requirements can be established to minimize those risks. Other factors that will be considered as regulations are developed include:

• modern approaches to food safety from around the world;
• outcome-based standards, as opposed to more traditional, prescriptive ones; and
• improved efficiency.

Inventories are ongoing in some areas to document industry practices, identify issues and help in developing appropriate standards. Baseline studies are being conducted to help identify microbiological and chemical risks in certain foods, and identify at what stage they may be introduced and thus controlled. New testing, monitoring and tracking capabilities help make this possible, and will also help determine the best method of minimizing the risk in the system.

Regulations under the Food Safety and Quality Act, 2001 will harmonize Ontario's standards for food safety with national standards where appropriate. The legislation will serve as a strong complement to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care's Health Protection and Promotion Act.