Shellfish Safety

Canadian shellfish is world renowned for its safety and quality

Whether farmed or wild, Canadian shellfish is recognized around the world as being safe and nutritious. Our shellfish must meet stringent food safety standards and regulations which are enforced by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Environment Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Additionally, shellfish harvesting and processing in Canada is monitored under one of the most comprehensive shellfish inspection programs in the world – the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program.

Making it safe: Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program

The Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program was established in 1925 to reduce the risk of human illness due to consumption of shellfish (particularly oysters, clams, scallops and mussels) that had been contaminated by pollution or biotoxins and were not safe to eat.

There are many regulations and guidelines in place to ensure Canadians shellfish are consistently safe for human consumption.

Core aspects of the Program include:

• Designating waters that are safe for growing shellfish
• Regulating shellfish harvesting, handling, labeling, shipping and processing
• Regularly analyzing shellfish for biotoxins and other contaminants
• Using tags with the date, time and place of harvest and company contact information so that products can be quickly traced back to their source, if necessary.

Roles & Responsibilities:

The Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program is jointly managed by:

Environment Canada

• Analyzes water quality in shellfish harvesting areas
• Identifies and assesses pollution sources that would impact these areas
• Identifies waters that do and do not meet sanitary standards by recommending the appropriate classification of shellfish areas based on the results and analyses of these activities

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

• Regulates shellfish processing plants
• Analyses shellfish to detect unacceptable levels of biotoxins and other contaminants
• Inspects shellfish and shellfish processing plants

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

• Regulates shellfish harvesting areas
• Bans the harvesting of shellfish when bacteria or toxin levels exceed safety standards
• Patrols and enforces any shellfish area closures

Learn more:

• The DANGERS of illegal harvesting
• Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program
• Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program – Manual of Operations
• Fact Sheet: Safe Shellfish Harvesting – Check Before You Dig
• Fact Sheet: Food Safety Facts on Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP)
• Fact Sheet: Shellfish Food Safety