Canadian Food Inspection Agency - Fish, Seafood and Production - Communique on Changes to Therapeutant Testing Requirements for Imports

Please be advised that the CFIA Fish Inspection group has recently updated its therapeutant testing program for aquacultured species. These changes have been required in response to updated information on current therapeutant usage domestically and internationally. The frequency of inspection has remained unchanged, i.e. 5% for non-import alert lots, but the kind of analyses conducted, the target species, and the number of samples analysed have been revised.

As part of the Quality Management Program, your company will also be required to institute the same set of revisions to testing procedures for aquacultured products as follows:

Species	Therapeutant	Frequency of Inspection (routine testing, excluding products on Import Alert List)
Salmon, trout, tilapia, catfish, shrimp, char, bream, sturgeon, milkfish, snakeheads	Oxytetracycline Chlorotetracycline Tetracycline Sulpha drugs Chlorophenicol Florfenicol Thiamphenicol Oxolinic acid	5% 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% 5% 5%
Carp, eels, crayfish	Oytetracycline Chlorotetraycline Tetracycline	5% 5% 5%
Lobster, Live	Oxytetracycline Chlorotetracycline Tetracycline Florflenicol amine	5% 5% 5% 5%

Note also that as a result of a decision made by the Laboratories Directorate of the CFIA, in conjunction with the development of this therapeutant testing program, all therapeutant analyses conducted for the import program will be done in the CFIA Mississauga Laboratory only, effective January 1, 2002. Instructions for the quantity of fish to sample and where to ship the products is attached.

Cost recovery charges for the CFIA laboratories will not be affected by these revisions in the short term. When requesting CFIA analyses, the CFIA laboratories will perform these analyses as listed by referencing a request for therapeutant testing. When utilizing Standards Council of Canada (SCC) accredited private laboratories, however, the specific analyses must be provided as indicated.

If you have questions or concerns related to the information included in the communique, please contact your local Fish Inspection Office, or the undersigned.

Sampling and Shipping Procedures for National Therapeutant Monitoring Samples

When collecting samples, care should be taken to ensure there is no potential for contamination from other sources, ie. areas or equipment where medicated feed has been stored or used.

A sample will consist of the minimum number of units (fish) sufficient to provide at least 250 grams of edible tissue. Generally, one fish or about 20 shrimp will be adequate.

Each sample should be placed in plastic bag labelled with a waterproof marker. The information on the sample bag should be unique to that sample, eg. Importer Information., Inspection Reference Sample and Lot Numbers, and any other information the Importer requires for their QMPI system. A hard copy of the Import Requested Analyses form should be placed in a separate sealed plastic bag and placed inside the sample bag.

Samples should be frozen prior to shipping. Several samples may be shipped together but must be packaged in a way that ensures that the sample integrity is not affected. The use of insulated coolers and ice packs are strongly recommended (ice is not recommended). It is the prerogative of the laboratory not to accept samples which have been compromised (damaged or deteriorated).

The laboratory should be contacted by email (gshum@inspection.gc.ca) and/or phone prior to shipping.

Samples should be shipped on Monday through Wednesday to ensure they arrive prior to the end of day on Friday.

The receiver’s address and telephone number should be clearly shown on the shipping container. Shipping should include delivery to the lab and shipping costs should be prepaid.

Gerry Shum, Senior Chemist (905)795-9666, ext. 227
or Houssam El-Menini (905)795-9666, ext. 245
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
1050 Courtneypark Drive East
Mississauga, ON L5T 2R4