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 Canadian Food Inspection Agency
St-Hyacinthe Laboratory
The Microbiology and Food Safety sector of the St Hyacinthe Laboratory is the only unit in Quebec for the CFIA that works to ensure food safety by providing diagnostic testing services, developing and refining methodologies and providing food microbiology expertise to meet regulatory requirements.
- The Microbiology and Food Safety sector performs microbiological analyses to detect and identify foodborne pathogens and food safety indicator organisms.
- The St Hyacinthe Laboratory provides the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) with technical auditors for the evaluation of private laboratories accredited by the SCC.
Virology, Pathology and Biotechnology (VP&B)
The VP&B sector consists of several units dedicated to research and technology development (R&D); optimization, validation and technology transfer (OVTT); accreditation of non-CFIA laboratories; integrated diagnostic services; and abattoir pathology. The sector’s staff includes biologists, veterinarians, research scientists, managers and a number of technicians working in several areas of specialization: food virology, veterinary virology, prion diseases, pathology, trichinellosis and biotechnology. The sector collaborates with many partners in other government departments, universities and the private sector, particularly in the context of R&D projects and method validation and transfer activities. Postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows receive training through their participation in this work.
- The Trichinellosis Pathology section of the VP&B sector provides diagnostic support services for federally inspected abattoirs across Canada and carries out porcine trichinellosis surveillance for eastern Canada. The section also participates in the training of veterinarians and inspectors by preparing learning material and providing field training. Section professionals provide training for veterinarians in the recognition of foreign animal diseases by working with the staff of the CFIA’s National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease in Winnipeg.
- The work of the Integrated Diagnostic Services section of the VP&B sector is aimed mainly at meeting health requirements related to exports, imports and the control of retroviral animal diseases and indigenous porcine diseases. Tens of thousands of serological tests are carried out each year. A molecular diagnostics laboratory has been established to detect human viruses in various food commodities in connection with outbreaks of foodborne viral illness. In addition, a laboratory is now operational which will conduct surveillance for foreign animal diseases, such as avian influenza. The Integrated Diagnostic Services section also participates in transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) surveillance. More specifically, it conducts bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) surveillance and small ruminant TSE surveillance for Quebec and for the Maritime Provinces. The laboratory is accredited by the Standards Council of Canada.
- The OVTT section serves as a reference centre for two national accreditation programs. It provides training and certification services for analysts with private laboratories and provincial laboratories; audits the quality assurance manuals developed by accredited laboratories; prepares and ships proficiency samples; and conducts laboratory audits under the relevant programs. This section is also responsible for evaluating, optimizing validating various immunology and molecular detection methods, and transferring them to the Integrated Diagnostic Services section and to other, affiliated laboratories.
- The three R&D sections of the VP&B sector are required to meet the operational requirements mandated by the CFIA. Their research activities centre on the investigation and detection of foodborne viruses, zoonotic viruses and animal viruses of significance to the CFIA, prions and specified risk material (SRM), detection of genetically modified organisms, traceability, and on-farm biosecurity.
Longueuil Laboratory (Longueuil, Quebec)
Chemistry
The Longueuil Laboratory is the only laboratory in Canada with an expertise in food nutrition. In addition to this unique mandate, the laboratory provides diagnostic support services for food allergens and marine toxins analysis. The laboratory’s specific activities are:
- To provide diagnostic testing to verify nutrition labelling regulation and to verify nutritive composition standards of foodstuffs (dairy products, eggs, sole source food products, etc.).
- To develop and validate new analytical methods in nutrition to allow CFIA to fulfill his regulation compliance mandate.
- To provide diagnostic testing to detect undeclared food allergens in foodstuffs.HYPERLINK -http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/labeti/allerg/allerge.shtml
- To develop and validate new analytical methods to detect food allergens in collaboration with Health Canada via the allergen methods comittee (AMC). HYPERLINK- http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/res-rech/analy-meth/allergen/amc-cma_e.html
- To provide diagnostic testing for the analysis of permitted and non-permitted food colours in foodstuffs.
- To provide diagnostic testing to detect marine toxins (PSP, ASP) within the framework of the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program (CSSP). HYPERLINK - http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/fispoi/csspccsme.shtml
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Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Saint-Hyacinthe Laboratory
3400 Casavant Blvd. West,
Saint-Hyacinthe (Quebec) J2S 8E3
Telephone: (450) 773-7730
Fax: (450) 773-8152
Web site: http://www.inspection.gc.ca
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