FSIS Digital Egg Certificates: What Changed September 19

On September 19, 2026, the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) stopped issuing paper export certificates for processed egg products heading to Canada. Everything now generates through their Public Health Information System (PHIS) as a digital file. The import requirements didn’t change—CFIA still wants the same certificate, it’s just not arriving as a quadruplicate paper form anymore.

If you import liquid eggs, dried egg whites, mayonnaise, or any other product regulated under Canada’s Processed Egg Regulations, this is the first format transition you’ve had to track since FSIS Form 9060-5EP became standard. The change itself is straightforward, but the first few shipments after a format switch are where confusion usually lands.

What Changed in the Certificate Format

The old FSIS Form 9060-5EP was a four-part paper certificate: white original, yellow exporter copy, pink broker copy, blue importer copy. Exporters mailed or couriered the original to the Canadian importer or broker, and we attached it to the import declaration when filing the CAD through CARM.

The new PHIS-generated certificate is a digital file. The exporter receives it electronically and forwards it to the Canadian importer or broker the same way they’d send a commercial invoice. The certificate still lists the product description, establishment number, lot codes, net weight, and the FSIS veterinary seal. Same data points, different delivery method.

One thing that disappeared: the quadruplicate color-coded copies. You now get one digital file, and everyone works from the same version. No more chasing down “the pink copy” when the importer has the white and the broker has nothing.

What Didn’t Change

CFIA’s import requirements for processed egg products are identical. You still need a valid FSIS export certificate, product from a U.S. establishment inspected by FSIS, and compliance with Canada’s food safety standards. The certificate still goes to CFIA for clearance before CBSA releases the shipment.

Brokers filing the CAD still attach the certificate as a supporting document in CARM, exactly the way we did with the paper scan. The only difference is that the file you’re uploading was born digital instead of being a PDF scan of a mailed form.

What Can Go Wrong

The first risk is the handoff. With paper certificates, the exporter mailed the original to the importer or broker, and we knew what to expect: a specific form size, color codes, a visible FSIS seal. Digital certificates arrive as email attachments. If your U.S. supplier doesn’t label the file clearly (subject line says “export docs,” attachment is named scan001.pdf), your receiving team might not recognize it as the FSIS certificate and flag it internally as missing.

We’ve seen this exact pattern with other OGD transitions. The certificate is there, the exporter sent it, but it’s sitting in someone’s inbox because it doesn’t look like the old form. By the time the broker realizes it’s missing from the file package, the shipment is sitting at the port waiting for CFIA clearance and burning dwell time.

Second risk: partial adoption during the transition window. September 19 was the official cutoff, but if a U.S. exporter printed a batch of paper forms in August and is working through the stack, you might still see a stray paper certificate show up in October. FSIS isn’t accepting new paper submissions, but they’re not invalidating certificates issued before the cutoff. If your supplier sends a paper cert dated September 18, CFIA will accept it. If they try to submit a new paper form dated October 1, FSIS will reject it and tell them to use PHIS.

The broker doesn’t control which version arrives, but we do control the file check before we submit the CAD. If the certificate format looks wrong or the date seems off, that’s a question for the importer to run back to the exporter before we file.

The Broader OGD Picture

Processed egg products are one of dozens of product categories requiring Other Government Department clearance before CBSA releases the shipment. CFIA handles food, plants, animals. Health Canada handles drugs and certain cosmetics. Transport Canada handles dangerous goods.

Every OGD has its own certificate format, electronic system, and processing timeline. CFIA has been digitizing for years—AIRS (Automated Import Reference System) links directly to CBSA’s systems for most food categories. The FSIS certificate change is the U.S. side catching up. It doesn’t make CFIA clearance faster, but it eliminates one piece of paper handling on both sides of the border.

The clearance timeline is the same: CFIA typically reviews and releases within a few hours if the certificate is clean and matches the shipment. If there’s a discrepancy or the product is flagged for inspection, add one to three days. If your freight is moving through Montreal and hitting our sufferance warehouse, we can hold it in a CBSA-bonded zone while CFIA works through the file, but you’re paying storage from day one.

What Brokers Need From Importers

Make sure your U.S. egg product suppliers know the certificate is now digital and that it needs to reach your broker before the shipment arrives. If your supplier’s export workflow is still “print the cert, mail it with the packing list,” that’s a problem as of September 19.

Tell your receiving team what the new certificate looks like. It’s a PDF generated from PHIS, not a scan of a color form. The header will say “Public Health Information System” and “Export Certificate for Processed Egg Products.” If your team is used to looking for the pink copy, they’ll skip right past it.

Forward the certificate to your customs broker as soon as you receive it, not the day the shipment lands. We can’t file the CAD without it, and CFIA won’t start the clearance review until the certificate is in the system.

Why This Keeps Happening

This is the third major OGD document format change in two years. CFIA moved meat and poultry certificates to a similar digital system in 2024. Health Canada updated the cosmetic notification process in early 2025. Every transition follows the same rhythm: the agency announces the change, the cutover happens, and for the first 60 to 90 days, a handful of shipments hold because someone in the supply chain didn’t update their workflow.

The importers who get through these transitions cleanly are the ones who brief their suppliers and their internal teams before the cutoff date, not after the first shipment holds.

The certificate format change is simple, but the communication gap costs days. If your clearances are slipping or your U.S. supplier is still sending paper, get in touch.

Source: CSCB