Budget cuts threaten key produce inspection program, warns CPMA

The leading fresh fruit and vegetable organization in the Great White North, the Canadian Produce Marketing Association (CPMA), says that the CFIA, the government's Food Inspection Agency, will discontinue the Destination Inspection Service (DIC).

According to the organization, the CFIA has yet to set an end date for the program but has signaled that budget cuts are driving the decision.

In response, CPMA emphasized that the DIC has long served as a stabilizing force in the Canadian market, curbing inflation and resolving disputes over imported goods through trusted third-party assessments.

What is the Destination Inspection Service

The Destination Inspection Service provides a third-party assessment of imported goods in Canada to resolve buyer/seller disputes. 

Services include inspections for condition defects, grade or permanent defects, gross weight, size, or actual count, and destruction or disposal of products, with a certificate proving discharge.

The organization’s president, Ron Lemaire, says in a statement addressing the news that before the establishment of the government inspections, “many shippers added 10 to 15 percent to the cost of goods when exporting to Canada due to the absence of a trusted, government-backed inspection mechanism.”

Losing that resource, he adds, places importers at “real risk of returning to these conditions.”

The executive warns that eliminating the program threatens the steady flow of produce into Canada and could disrupt both availability and prices for consumers.

“Removing one of these pillars jeopardizes our ability to regain preferential access under the US Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) and undermines Canada’s broader trade strategy with our biggest trading partner,” he explains. “Exporters may also become unwilling to ship products to Canada due to increased market instability and uncertainty around full payment or the validated fair value of goods.”

More than a trade tool

Lemaire points out that the program’s influence extends well beyond international trade, as countless Canadian produce businesses depend on the inspection service for domestic sales.

“The loss of DIS would remove a key tool that supports fair transactions, market transparency, and dispute resolution for Canadian producers shipping interprovincially,” he says.

The executive says CPMA, alongside the Fruit and Vegetable Dispute Resolution Corporation (DRC), is in conversations with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s President and staff, and next week the organization will circulate a survey to quantify the DIC’s impact and communicate to the government what its closure would mean for fresh produce businesses across the country.

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