Director General's Office

The mandate of the Health Products and Food Branch (HPFB) is to promote good nutrition and informed use of drugs, food, medical devices and natural health products, and to maximize the safety and efficacy of drugs, food, natural health products, medical devices, biologics and related biotechnology products. The Branch plays a key role in managing the risks associated with the use of these products and in assuring the high quality of products used by Canadians. To this end, it is involved in the enforcement of federal legislation that sets standards for quality, conditions for sale and the prevention of fraud and diversion from legitimate uses.

The primary role of the HPFB Inspectorate is to deliver a national compliance and enforcement program for all products under the mandate of the Branch, with the exception of food products that are the responsibility of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. This is done through industry inspection, product investigation, establishment licensing and related laboratory functions. In fulfilling these responsibilities, a risk management approach to decision-making is applied and senior management's vision of a comprehensive regulatory strategy across all product classes is supported.

The Inspectorate has 9 responsibility centres:

• Director General's Office (Longueuil).
• Inspectorate Ottawa (Ottawa): responsible for establishment licensing and for policy, planning and coordination activities.
• 2 Laboratory: Longueuil and Toronto: ensuring the support to inspection and investigation activities.
• 5 Operational Centres responsible for the conduct of inspections and investigations.
  • Atlantic Region (Halifax)
  • Quebec Region (Longueuil)
  • Ontario and Nunavut Region (Toronto)
  • Manitoba and Saskatchewan Region (Winnipeg)
  • Western Region (Burnaby)