Legal Requirements for Food Safety in Canada (2026)

Two federal laws, thirteen provincial systems, and one question every operator asks: which rules actually apply to me? Here is the full map, with the laws named.

The two federal laws every food business falls under

Start at the top. The Food and Drugs Act is the foundation of Canada's food safety system. It requires that all food sold in the country be fit for human consumption, and it gives Health Canada the job of setting the standards for the safety and nutritional quality of food sold in Canada. There is no size threshold and no trade test. If you sell food in Canada, this law covers you, and it keeps applying even when other federal rules do too.

The second law is the Safe Food for Canadians Act, which fully came into force on January 15, 2019 and pulled several older inspection laws into one modern framework. Its regulations, the SFCR, cover food that is imported, exported, or traded across provincial and territorial borders, and some provisions also reach businesses selling inside a single province.

So which one applies to your restaurant, bakery, or food truck? Probably both, in different ways. Here is where it turns practical.

Who needs a CFIA licence (and who does not)

Part 2 of the SFCR sets out who must be licensed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The short test: if you import food, export food, or send food across a provincial or territorial border to sell it, you need a licence. The licence names the activities you are allowed to do, and it lets the CFIA know who you are and contact you directly if there is a recall or a problem.

A local restaurant that buys from a Canadian distributor and serves customers in its own province generally does not need a CFIA licence. Its obligations live mostly at the provincial and local level. But the moment you ship your hot sauce to another province or import an ingredient yourself, you cross into CFIA territory. You can confirm your own situation with the CFIA licensing pages.

And if the SFCR does apply to you, there is one document an inspector will ask about before anything else.

The Preventive Control Plan inspectors ask about

Under sections 86 to 89 of the SFCR, food businesses must prepare, keep, and maintain a written Preventive Control Plan, called a PCP. The plan describes the hazards in your operation and how you prevent, eliminate, or reduce them to an acceptable level. That last phrase is deliberate: the final regulations aligned the wording with the international Codex Alimentarius standard.

There is a break for the smallest operators. The final SFCR raised the PCP exemption threshold from $30,000 to $100,000 in gross annual food sales. Below that line, some businesses are exempt from the written plan, though the underlying food safety obligations never go away.

Federal rules answered. Now the layer that trips up far more owners: your province.

Provincial rules: the certified food handler requirement

Provinces and local health units run the day-to-day rules for restaurants, cafeterias, daycares, and food shops. The clearest example is Ontario Regulation 493/17, the Food Premises Regulation. It requires every operator of a food service premises to ensure at least one certified food handler or supervisor is on the premises during every hour the business is operating.

Getting certified in Ontario means completing training recognized by the Ministry of Health, through a public health unit or an approved provider, then passing the standardized exam with at least 70%. The certificate is valid for 5 years, after which you recertify.

When I did inspections, the certificate of the person in charge was the first thing I asked for, before I ever opened a fridge. An expired or missing certificate turns a routine visit into a follow-up file, and it is the easiest violation in the entire regulation to avoid.

Other provinces run the same idea under their own names and details. British Columbia expects FOODSAFE Level 1 by name, so BC workers should take FOODSAFE Level 1 rather than a generic course. For a deeper look at one province's system, see our guide to BC food safety laws.

"Most owners I met were not breaking the rules on purpose. They did not know which of the three levels of law applied to them. Ten minutes of reading saves a season of follow-up inspections."

Samira AliCertified Public Health Inspector, 10+ years across Canada and the U.S.

What happens when a business breaks the rules

In Ontario, public health inspectors are designated as provincial offences officers. That means they can issue offence notices (tickets) and summonses to court for contraventions of the Food Premises Regulation. Inspection results are also public in most health units, so the reputational cost starts before any fine does.

Federally, the CFIA can issue Administrative Monetary Penalties under the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act. These financial penalties sit alongside licence suspensions and recalls as the CFIA's tools for bringing businesses back into compliance with the federal food laws it enforces.

The cheapest way through all of this is the boring one: get the training, keep the certificate current, and keep your records where you can find them.

How to meet the training requirement today

For most food workers and operators, compliance starts with one step: a recognized food handler certificate. The Food Handler Certification course is online, self-paced, and recognized for the provincial requirements described above. Registration takes about 30 seconds, and most people finish and print their certificate the same day. If you are in British Columbia, take FOODSAFE Level 1 instead, since that is the BC standard.

Rules change, and this guide reflects the requirements as of August 2026. It simplifies the law for education and does not replace the Safe Food for Canadians Act, the Food and Drugs Act, or your provincial regulations. Always verify final requirements against the current official text.