ARCHIVED - Industry Notice - Fertilizer regulations amendments enable focus on safety

Ottawa, May 8, 2013: Amendments to the Fertilizer Regulations have removed regulatory requirements for efficacy and quality. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) no longer regulates the efficacy and quality of fertilizer products.

This change enables the CFIA to focus on verifying the safety of fertilizers and supplements, and will strengthen industry's leadership role in quality assurance and verification. It will also provide industry with greater flexibility, reduced costs and less red tape.

All fertilizer and supplement products continue to be regulated for safety for humans, plants, animals and the environment. Safety assessments will continue to examine all ingredients in a fertilizer or supplement. These assessments include human exposure, safety of food crops grown on land that has been treated with the product, impacts on animals and plants other than the target crop species, and ecosystem effects including impact on soil, biodiversity and leaching to waterways. The CFIA will also continue to verify that fertilizer products are properly labelled to avoid product misrepresentation in the marketplace.

Fertilizers and supplements (substances other than fertilizers that improve the physical condition of soils, or plant growth), whether domestic or imported that are sold in Canada, are regulated by the CFIA under the authority of the federal Fertilizers Act and Regulations.

A summary of amendments to the Fertilizer Regulations can be found on the CFIA website.

Resources for industry

• Canada Gazette, Part II; and
• Product specific inquiry information.

Contact for industry

If you have any questions about the Fertilizers Regulations amendments, please contact the Fertilizer Program at:

Canadian Food Inspection Agency
59 Camelot Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0Y9
Telephone: 613-773-7189
Facsimile: 613-773-7163

Date modified:

2013-05-08