Meat Shipment CFIA Inspection Status Feature (CBSA)

This article is part of the BorderConnect PARS Software Guide

Background

Meat shipments entering Canada from the United States may be selected for inspection by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). When a shipment is selected, the carrier must follow the inspection instructions and report to the facility specified by CFIA before delivering the shipment to the consignee.

Carriers can verify inspection status through CFIA's Shipment Tracker, which replaced the older ASSIST wording used in many carrier workflows.<ref name="cfia-tracker">CFIA: Shipment Tracker for Food, Plant and Animal Imports</ref> BorderConnect PARS displays the same kind of inspection-status information directly in BorderConnect when it is available.

Checking inspection status in BorderConnect

Example of email notification of CFIA inspection status

For users of BorderConnect PARS, meat inspection status can appear inside BorderConnect after the shipment has been released by CBSA and the CFIA inspection decision is available.

The typical workflow is:

1. CBSA releases the PARS shipment.
2. CFIA inspection status becomes available through CFIA's shipment-status system.
3. BorderConnect displays the CFIA inspection result on the shipment and can notify users or drivers.

Inspection status is not available before customs release.

Prerequisites

• The carrier must be set up with BorderConnect PARS.
• The shipment must be a meat shipment where CFIA inspection-status data is available.
• The shipment must have arrived in Canada and been released by CBSA.
• CFIA's shipment-status system must be available and returning a result for the shipment.

Where the status appears

When a meat shipment is released by CBSA, the detailed release notification for the PARS may show whether a CFIA inspection is required and where the inspection is to take place.

CFIA inspection status in the detailed BorderConnect PARS/RNS view

Users of BorderConnect's ACI eManifest software can also see the inspection status from the ACI eManifest Details Page or the ACI Shipment Details Page, provided the manifest or shipment is connected to the PARS shipment.

The ACI eManifest Details Page is useful when a manifest has multiple meat shipments, because the user can review the inspection status for multiple shipments from one page.

Automatic notifications

BorderConnect can send a separate notification when CFIA inspection status is retrieved for a PARS shipment.

Users who receive PARS/RNS email notifications, such as through the Receive RNS Status Auto Email Messages setting, can receive an email notification for the CFIA inspection status.

Drivers associated with the PARS may also receive an email or text message if their notification settings are enabled. Drivers can be associated through the ACI eManifest or by entering PARS sequences on their driver profile.

Limitations

• If CFIA's shipment-status system is unavailable, BorderConnect cannot retrieve the inspection status.
• There is usually a delay of about 5 to 30 minutes between CBSA release and the inspection status becoming available.
• CFIA status tools may only display recent shipment information. BorderConnect does not store the CFIA inspection status after it is no longer available from the CFIA source.
• The inspection-status result is informational. Drivers and dispatchers should follow the inspection instructions from CFIA, CBSA, the importer, broker, or the designated inspection facility.

References

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