Good afternoon. I am pleased to appear before you today to speak to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's role in the Canadian shellfish sanitation program, CSSP.
The goal of the program is to minimize the risks of consuming contaminated bivalve shellfish such as oysters, mussels and clams. This protects the health and safety of consumers, supports trade within Canada and internationally and plays a key role in Canada's coastal and economic landscape.
The scale of the CSSP is significant. It monitors more than 2,000 shellfish harvest sites along the 78,000 kilometres of coastline spread through the Pacific, Quebec and Atlantic regions. The CFIA plays an important role in protecting the health and safety of Canadians and supporting trade by minimizing the risks associated with consuming contaminated shellfish.
Under the CSSP, the CFIA runs a surveillance program that monitors shellfish harvest areas for harmful marine biotoxins. CFIA's marine biotoxin monitoring program begins once DFO and ECCC have completed the work to classify a site. The CFIA conducts marine biotoxin monitoring only in harvest areas that are appropriately classified for harvest. Based on the results of the laboratory analyses, the CFIA provides recommendations to DFO on whether shellfish harvest areas should be closed or can reopen safely.
The CFIA also licenses and inspects 272 parties that process, package and label shellfish for export or interprovincial trade as well as parties that import shellfish into Canada. As a science-based regulator, the CFIA verifies that licence-holders are meeting their food safety obligations and, when necessary, conducts food safety investigations and overseas recalls.
The CSSP supports three distinct shellfish harvest sectors, each playing a vital role in Canada's coastal and economic landscape. The CFIA plays a role in supporting each sector.
The first is the commercial harvest sector. This includes shellfish harvested for interprovincial trade and exports, and it's valued at approximately $475 million annually. Aquaculture exports alone are estimated at $240 million a year, with the United States, the European Union and Asia representing the major export markets. The integrity of this program is, therefore, not only a matter of public health; it is also a matter of economic significance for Canada's coastal communities and our international trade reputation.
The second sector is harvesting for indigenous food, social and ceremonial, FSC, purposes. In addition to the existing support for indigenous FSC, budget 2024 allocated $25.1 million over two years to the CFIA, ECCC and DFO to expand program activities that support some coastal indigenous communities' access to shellfish for food, social and ceremonial purposes. With this funding, the CFIA established new biotoxin surveillance stations and conducted biotoxin testing in the CFIA laboratories. By March 31, 2026, the CFIA had signed 23 memoranda of understanding with first nations communities and analyzed approximately 700 samples for marine biotoxin hazards.
The third sector is recreational harvesting. This includes traditional harvesting by local communities for personal consumption, recreation and cultural or heritage purposes. Recreational harvesting remains an important cultural and community tradition, particularly in Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
In closing, I would like to underscore that the success of the CSSP rests on the strength of federal collaboration and communities. No single department has the regulatory authority to deliver this program alone.
The CFIA takes seriously its responsibility to coordinate across partners, maintain the integrity of national standards, liaise with foreign authorities and ensure that Canada's food safety system commands the confidence of Canadians and our trading partners around the world.
Thank you for your time.