Meat Shipment CFIA Inspection Status Feature (CBSA)

This article is part of the BorderConnect PARS Software Guide

Background

All shipments of meat coming into Canada from the U.S. are subject to the possibility of a random inspection by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). If a meat shipment is selected for inspection, the carrier is notified only after the shipment has already arrived in Canada and cleared customs. If selected, the carrier must report to a facility specified by CFIA and for the meat to be inspected before the shipment can be delivered to the consignee in Canada.

Checking on the inspection status of meat shipments using BorderConnect

Highway carriers transporting meat shipments from the U.S. to Canada typically verify the inspection status of their meat shipments using the ASSIST Tool on CFIA's website. For users of BorderConnect PARS though, the inspection status is available directly inside BorderConnect, and can even be automatically sent to dispatchers and drivers.

Example of email notification of CFIA inspection status

Prerequisities

• You must be set up with BorderConnect PARS in order to make use of this feature.

• Inspection status will not be available until the meat shipment in question has arrived in Canada and been released by CBSA.

Details

• When a meat shipment is released by CBSA, the "Released" notification for the PARS will show additional information when viewed in detail under PARS Shipments. The listing will show whether a CFIA inspection is required, and where the inspection is to take place.

• Users of BorderConnect's ACI eManifest software can also see the inspection status under the ACI eManifest Details Page or ACI Shipment Details Page, provided they have prepared a manifest for the meat shipment. Using the eManifest Details Page to view the inspection status can be particularly convenient when the manifest has multiple PARS that need to have their status checked, as it will list all inspection statuses on one page.

• Any users or drivers set up to receive notifications for the PARS in question will receive a separate notification for the CFIA inspection status. i.e. Users who are set up to receive email notifications for all PARS on the account via the "Receive RNS Status Auto Email Messages" option will receive an email regarding the CFIA inspection status of the shipment. Drivers that are associated with the PARS either due to being listed on the same ACI eManifest or via PARS Sequence being entered on their Profiles will receive an email or text notification of the inspection status if the notification options are set in their profile.

Limitations

• As this feature is powered entirely by the CFIA's ASSIST tool, it will not be able to function if ASSIST itself is experiencing downtime, or if the status is for some other reason not available in ASSIST. Likewise it is possible that future changes made by CFIA to the procedure or to ASSIST could disable or invalidate our interaction with it.

• There is usually a delay of anywhere from 5 minutes to a half hour between when CBSA releases a shipment and CFIA displays the inspection status in ASSIST. During this period the inspection status will also be unavailable in BorderConnect.

• ASSIST will only display the inspection status for shipments which entered Canada less than 30 days ago. After 30 days the status becomes unavailable. As such, the inspection status will also cease to become viewable in BorderConnect for shipments older than 30 days. BorderConnect does not store the inspection status or otherwise make it available past the period where it is available via CFIA.