Food Safety & Regulatory Compliance

When CFIA is involved, or before it needs to be.

If CFIA has contacted your company about an inspection finding, an enforcement notice, a recall, or an investigation, the decisions you make in the first few days will shape the file for its entire life. If you are building a compliance programme, applying for a licence, or bringing a product to market, the regulatory framework you need to navigate is the same one that generates those enforcement matters. Both paths lead here.

GSJ&Co. advises food businesses on the full range of regulatory matters under the SFCA/SFCR framework. We act for manufacturers, importers, distributors, and exporters, including companies in the pet food sector. Our work covers both sides of the regulatory relationship: helping companies build compliance before a regulator is involved, and representing them when one is.

If You Have a Live Issue

Start here:

CFIA Enforcement Actions: the full enforcement toolkit and how to respond
Product Recalls: the recall process, classification, and where counsel changes outcomes
AMP Challenges: responding to a Notice of Violation
CFIA Inspections: what to expect and how to prepare

Proactive Compliance

Much of our regulatory work is preventive. We help clients understand what the framework requires before an inspector arrives or a product ships.

SFCA licensing: applications, amendments, renewals, and the conditions that attach to them.
Preventive control plans: development, review, and gap analysis. A PCP is a licensing requirement, but it is also the document that defines your position if something goes wrong.
Formulation and ingredient analysis: whether an ingredient is permitted, whether a product meets a compositional standard, whether a formulation triggers novel food or supplemented food requirements.
Pre-market submissions and classifications: novel food notifications, supplemented food applications, and temporary marketing authorizations.
Pet food regulation: a distinct regulatory framework from human food, with different statutes, different CFIA oversight, and different compliance questions.

Enforcement and Crisis Response

When CFIA takes enforcement action, companies need counsel who understands how the Agency operates, not just what the statute says. We have acted for food businesses on inspection disputes, AMP challenges before the Canada Agricultural Review Tribunal, licence suspension and cancellation proceedings, recall management, and regulatory investigations that carry prosecution risk.

The written response to a CFIA enforcement action is usually the most consequential document in the matter. We help companies get that response right the first time.

Access to Information

Canada’s federal Access to Information Act is a tool we use on behalf of clients who need to understand what the regulator knows, what a competitor has disclosed, or what policymakers are considering. We also represent clients protecting confidential business information from disclosure.

How We Work

GSJ&Co. is a boutique firm. Glenford Jameson handles every matter personally. There is no intake team, no associate rotation, and no junior lawyer learning food law on your file. We work with companies at every stage, from startups bringing a novel product to market to multinational manufacturers managing compliance across multiple facilities and jurisdictions. We also regularly act as Canadian regulatory counsel for international law firms whose clients need to access the Canadian market.

Last updated: March 2026. This page is maintained by GSJ&Co. and updated when there are material changes to the relevant regulatory framework.