On May 4, 2016, FDA announced that both the U.S. and Canada have recognized each other's food safety systems as comparable to each other. This is the second time that FDA has given this recognition to a country, the first being New Zealand in 2012. The FDA, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency ("CFIA"), and the Department of Health Canada ("Health Canada") have used the International Comparability Assessment Tool ("ICAT"), which contains standards to evaluate whether a country's system of protections is similar to the other, and whether their food safety authority or authorities provide similar oversight and monitoring activities for food produced under their jurisdiction. In fact, the ICAT would issue system recognition of only two countries' food safety systems after evaluating the countries' domestic and export food safety system, including its regulatory foundation; training, inspection, program assessment and inspection audit, and compliance and enforcement program; food-related illness and outbreaks; industry and community relations; program resources; international communication and harmonization; and laboratory support. The fact that the described operations are similar helps enhance food safety and facilitates trade between both countries. For instance, FDA states that FDA, CFIA, and Health Canada "have confidence that they can leverage each other's science-based regulatory systems."
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