CFIA Pet Food and Pharma Gland Certificates from the UK: What Changed and What You Need on File

The Certificate Template Is New, the Permit Requirement Is Not

CFIA and UK authorities finalized a new certificate for raw inedible animal by-products—things like glands destined for pharmaceutical extraction, rendered meal for pet food manufacturing, blood products. The updated conditions are live in the Automated Import Reference System, and the certificate itself is cleaner than the previous UK template.

If you’ve been importing UK-origin pet food ingredients or raw glands under the old certificate, nothing about the permit requirement changed. You still need an import permit before the goods arrive. What changed is the certificate format and the AIRS reference—your UK supplier will need the new template, and your broker will cite the updated AIRS entry when filing the CAD.

Who This Matters To

Three importer profiles care about this:

1. Pet food manufacturers bringing in UK-sourced rendered meals, meat-and-bone meal, blood meal—anything inedible but animal-origin that goes into formulation.
2. Pharmaceutical companies importing raw glands (thyroid, adrenal, pituitary) for API extraction.
3. Contract packers and co-manufacturers who handle inbound ingredients on behalf of brand owners and need the CFIA permit registered to the right party.

If you’re in category three, make sure the permit holder matches the importer of record on the CAD. CFIA will reject a shipment at primary inspection if the permit is in the brand owner’s name but the CAD lists the co-packer as IOR. We see that mismatch weekly, and it always costs two or three days while the importer of record applies for their own permit or arranges a consignee amendment.

What the New Certificate Covers

The UK certificate now consolidates several product categories that previously required separate attestations:

• Raw glands and organs for pharmaceutical manufacturing (not for human consumption as food)
• Rendered animal meals for pet food production
• Blood products (plasma, serum, dried blood) for feed or technical use
• Hides, skins, and similar by-products destined for tanning or industrial processing

The certificate includes health attestations that the products originated from animals passed for human consumption at slaughter, were processed in a UK-approved establishment, and meet Canadian import conditions for freedom from transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and other notifiable diseases. Your UK supplier’s veterinary authority signs off.

From a broker’s perspective, the certificate is attached to the CAD as supporting documentation, the CFIA permit number goes in the appropriate field, and the HS classification drives whether you’re also dealing with other agencies. Most raw glands fall under 0510.00, which is CFIA only. Rendered meals usually land in 2301.10 or 2309.90 depending on species and processing, and those chapters trigger CFIA but rarely anything else unless there’s a SIMA case on a related tariff line (there isn’t one active today for UK animal meals, but Chinese blood meal has seen AD duty in the past).

Permit Application: Do It Before You Book the Shipment

CFIA permits for animal by-products are not instant. The application goes through My CFIA, and if your company hasn’t imported animal products before, you’ll need to register as a permitted importer first. That registration can take a week if CFIA has questions about your facility or your intended use.

Once you’re registered, individual shipment permits are faster—usually within two business days if the product description is clear and matches an existing AIRS entry. But if you’re importing a new product type for the first time, CFIA may ask for a letter of intent describing your manufacturing process, storage conditions, and end use. Pharma companies importing glands for API extraction should include a reference to their Drug Establishment Licence if they have one; it speeds up the review.

The permit is product- and origin-specific. A permit for glands from the UK does not cover glands from Germany or France, even though all three are part of the same veterinary approval zone for other purposes. If you’re buying from multiple European suppliers, you’ll need separate permits for each country of origin.

What Happens at the Border

Animal by-products are subject to CFIA primary inspection at first port of entry. If you’re clearing at Montreal, Vancouver, or Toronto, CFIA officers are on-site and the inspection usually happens within 24 hours of release notification. If you’re clearing at a smaller port where CFIA visits twice a week, expect a longer hold.

The officer will verify:

• The import permit number on the CAD matches a valid permit in the CFIA system
• The UK certificate is original (not a copy), signed, and matches the product description on the commercial invoice
• The lot numbers or batch codes on the certificate match the shipping documents

If the certificate is missing or doesn’t match, the shipment is held and the importer has three options: get a corrected certificate couriered from the UK (expensive, slow), re-export the goods (expensive, embarrassing), or apply for a ministerial exemption (almost never granted for animal products).

We handle brokerage and OGD coordination at enough volume that we know which CFIA officers at which ports will accept a scanned certificate on a Friday afternoon pending original-on-Monday, and which ones won’t. That kind of relationship saves you weekend storage fees when the courier is late.

Cross-Border Storage and In-Bond Movements

If you’re importing UK glands through a U.S. port and moving them in-bond to Canada, the CFIA permit must be issued before the goods enter Canada, not before they leave the UK. Some importers assume the permit clock starts at load port; it doesn’t. CFIA’s authority begins at the Canadian border, and if your shipment arrives at the Sarnia crossing without a valid permit on file, it’s refused entry or held until you obtain one.

For shipments moving through Montreal and stored at a sufferance warehouse before clearance, CFIA inspection can happen while the goods are still under bond. Our Montreal sufferance facility handles cold and ambient OGD holds daily, and we coordinate CFIA officer access without waiting for final CAD filing. That parallel path usually saves a day compared to serial processing.

HS Classification and Duty Treatment

Most raw inedible animal by-products from the UK enter duty-free under CETA (the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement). The CETA rules of origin for Chapter 5 and Chapter 23 products are straightforward: if the animal was raised and slaughtered in the UK, or if the by-product was produced there from UK or EU-origin animals, it qualifies.

You’ll need a CETA origin declaration on the commercial invoice or a standalone statement. The old EUR.1 certificate is no longer required, but the text of the declaration must include the CETA-specific wording. If your UK supplier writes “these goods originate in the United Kingdom” without citing CETA, that’s not enough for the CBSA officer reviewing the CAD. The declaration must say “the goods originate in the territory of a CETA party” or use the prescribed short-form language.

If you claim CETA preference and CBSA later verifies origin, they’ll ask your supplier for production records proving the animals were EU-origin or that processing happened in the UK. For rendered meals, that’s usually a mill record and a slaughter certificate. For glands, it’s a lot number trace back to the abattoir. If your supplier can’t provide it, CBSA will deny the preference claim and assess MFN duty retroactively, plus interest.

We run tariff classification and duty planning for importers who want a second opinion before the first CAD is filed. A lot of pet food ingredient misclassifications happen because the commercial invoice says “meat meal” but doesn’t specify species, and the broker defaults to 2301.10.00 when the product is actually a blend that belongs in 2309.90.10. The duty difference is zero under CETA, but the CFIA documentation requirements are different, and that’s where the headache starts.

What to Tell Your UK Supplier

Send them the new AIRS reference and ask them to confirm their veterinary authority is using the updated certificate template. If they’re still referencing the old certificate format, CFIA will reject the shipment at inspection, and your supplier will need to get a corrected certificate issued and couriered to Canada before release. That process takes a minimum of three days and often a week.

Also confirm that the product description on the certificate matches the HS classification and the CFIA permit. We’ve seen certificates that say “raw glands for pharmaceutical use” paired with a permit that says “pet food ingredients,” and CFIA holds the shipment every time until the importer clarifies intended use in writing.

Filing the CAD

The CAD for a CFIA-controlled animal by-product shipment requires the CFIA permit number in the OGD license field, the UK certificate reference in the supporting documents field, and the correct AIRS entry code that matches the permit conditions. If any of those three elements are missing or mismatched, the CAD is rejected by the CFIA system before it reaches an officer, and your broker has to refile.

Under CARM, the rejected CAD still counts toward your monthly statement of account activity, so you’ll see a line item for a $0.00 transaction that represents the rejected filing. It doesn’t cost you anything, but it clutters the K84 statement and makes reconciliation harder if you’re doing high volumes.

If your company imports UK animal by-products weekly, it’s worth setting up a standing process with your broker: permit number and certificate details sent 48 hours before the estimated arrival date, CAD filed as soon as the cargo control number is created, CFIA inspection request submitted on arrival. That cadence usually gets you same-day or next-day release at Montreal and Toronto.

When to Escalate

If CFIA holds your shipment for more than 48 hours after the officer’s initial inspection and doesn’t provide a written reason, escalate through your broker to the CFIA district office. We’ve seen holds stretch to five or six days because the officer forwarded the certificate to the national import service centre for a second opinion and no one told the importer. A polite call from the broker to the district supervisor usually gets you a status update within a few hours.

Most holds are documentation issues, not product issues. The product is fine; the certificate is missing a signature box or the lot number doesn’t match the invoice. Once you know what’s wrong, you can usually fix it in a day.

We file CADs for UK pharma gland imports often enough that we know the common traps. If your current broker is treating every CFIA hold as a mystery and telling you to wait, talk to us.

Source: CSCB