The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has announced new temporary Safe Food for Canadians (SFC) license conditions for importing romaine lettuce originating from the US. 

The new temporary regulations for the affected commodities below will take effect from September 24, 2026, until December 17, 2026.

Affected Commodities: All US import shipments of romaine lettuce and/or salad mixes containing romaine lettuce, sold in bags, in bulk, or combined with other food items, in a fresh state, including all varieties of mature and baby romaine.

Temporary Import Requirements for US Romaine Lettuce:

• To decrease the risk associated with E. coli, the CFIA is implementing temporary SFC license conditions
• If the romaine lettuce originates from outside the California counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito, and Monterey: Importers must obtain proof of origin from the exporter demonstrating the products do not originate from these counties
• If the romaine lettuce originates from the California counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Benito, and Monterey (or if proof of origin is not provided), importers may choose one of two options:
  
  • Obtain evidence of participation in the Romaine Test & Learn (T&L) program from the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (LGMA) member
  • Obtain a Certificate of Analysis (CoA) for each consignment/shipment to demonstrate that the products do not contain detectable levels of E. coli O157:H7
• Importers must retain the applicable documents on file to demonstrate that each consignment or shipment complies with these conditions
• The CFIA has removed the requirement to provide the Importer's attestation form (CFIA/ACIA 5961) and no longer requires supporting documents to be uploaded as part of the import declaration

Complete details on the temporary SFC license conditions can be found here along with the official announcement of the above changes.

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