What do you expect Hikari USA to say?
While Hikari continues to deny something that I first reported back in August 2009, below is what you are now seeing posted by some of the major chain stores here in Canada. Considering the volume of Hikari food that these stores sold, I can assure you that this decision was not made lightly, nor was it made before seeking out other options.
Perhaps a company as large as Hikari doesn't consider losing accounts such as the one above a problem?
You can import any food product for personal use.
According to one of the head CFIA agents that I spoke with, no pet food whatsoever will be allowed into Canada without the proper paperwork & permit.
Not even a single container or bag for personal use. Anything that is caught at the border will be confiscated & destroyed, with possible fines levied. So you pay your $$$, and you take your chances.
I've been working within the pet food industry for several yrs, and I'm a licensed importer/distributor for an international brand of fish food, so I'm well aware of what's involved with the new CFIA regulations.
On July 1st 2009 year the Canadian Food Inspection Agency implemented some major new rules & regs regarding
all forms of pet food that are imported into Canada. Some of you may find that certain brands of pet food may no longer be available in Canada due to the cost, time, and headache to bring them into our country. In speaking with a few of the larger distributors they are most definitely dropping certain brands of pet food as it will simply no longer be cost effective to import them.
Here's a break down of some of the hoops that Canadian pet food distributors now have to jump through.
http://www.cscb.ca/listinfo/Import_non_bovinae_PF_USA.pdf
And that's just for
non-bovinae pet foods. I don't even want to know what's involved for importing pet food that contains actual bovinae ingredients, or if the food is manufactured outside of the USA. (as most fish foods are)
I've had an import license for several years, now on top of that you need an import permit # for every shipment (which of course isn't free), and that's the easy part. It's the several pages of docs that need to be filled out, and sent to the CFIA for approval, then on to the CFIA vet, then on to Ottawa for final approval, and then on to the actual exporter, & brokerage agents IF you even get approved.
The CFIA want ingredients, percentages, processing methods, etc-etc-etc, and this info must come via a signed & dated facility questionnaire directly from the manufacturer themselves, not some third party vendor such as Kensfish.
Has this been a pain in the arse? Yes.
Overall is it a bad thing for the industry? Absolutely not.
At the end of the day it's the CFIA's job to protect both consumers, and their pets from situations such as the melamine fiasco that took place a few yrs ago, which did affect certain brands/formulas of fish food, and it appears that they are now taking that role very seriously.
Just to give everyone a rough idea as to what the CFIA is dealing with in just 1 single country (China) take a look at the following link. (scroll down to
Food safety regulations)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_safety_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China
And that's food items destined for
human consumption, so take a guess what can & has happened with food items made for animals. Scary stuff.
