Canada Proposes More Flexible Import Rules for US Heat-Treated Pet Food

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is proposing changes to import requirements for commercial heat-treated pet food products from the United States, with the objective of better reflecting increasingly complex international pet-food supply chains.

Under the current framework, animal-origin ingredients or finished products generally need to have been appropriately processed in Canada or the United States, subject to specific exceptions. CFIA says the existing system can create certification difficulties when ingredients are processed in a third country, imported into the US and subsequently incorporated into pet food exported to Canada.

The proposed changes would allow qualifying processing to occur in countries evaluated and approved by CFIA, rather than restricting processing locations primarily to Canada and the US.

The proposal also moves toward more outcome-based pathogen-control requirements.

For example, poultry-derived ingredients would need treatment consistent with WOAH requirements for mitigating HPAI and Newcastle disease. Porcine rendered ingredients would require controls addressing African swine fever, classical swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease and swine vesicular disease. Dairy would require appropriate pasteurisation.

CFIA is also proposing to recognise additional animal-origin species and modernise the treatment framework rather than relying exclusively on a limited set of prescribed time-temperature combinations.

Why the proposal matters

Pet-food manufacturing is increasingly global. Ingredient sourcing, rendering, processing, formulation and packaging may occur across several jurisdictions before the finished product reaches consumers.

The Canadian proposal therefore represents more than a technical import amendment. It potentially reduces supply-chain friction while retaining animal-health safeguards.

For manufacturers, the key commercial variables will be:

Approved country → approved ingredient pathway → validated pathogen reduction → certification → import eligibility

For ingredient suppliers, particularly those supplying poultry, pork, dairy and rendered proteins, demonstrating validated pathogen mitigation could become increasingly important.

CFIA is seeking comments from Canadian importers and pet-food manufacturers, with submissions due 15 October 2026.

Strategic industry view

The direction of travel is toward risk-based regulation rather than geography-based processing rules.

If implemented, the framework could make multinational pet-food supply chains more flexible while retaining controls against animal diseases that could enter Canada through animal-origin ingredients.