Exporting olive oil to Canada. Extra virgin must stay extra virgin until the best-before date.
In Canada olive oil is one of the foods where the CFIA looks for fraud. And it asks the importer to prove that extra virgin stays extra virgin until the best-before date.
The CFIA tests olive oil for authenticity. In its notice to industry of 24 April 2025 it writes that it has a testing programme for authenticity and for added oils, and that surveillance continues to find non-compliance. Adding another oil or olive pomace oil is adulteration.
The importer asks the mill for evidence. Among the measures the CFIA expects in the importer's plan are checks on the foreign supplier's controls and valid assurances, such as certificates of analysis. The declared grade must meet the requirements for the whole shelf life of the product.
The name of the oil follows Canadian rules. "Extra virgin" and "virgin" apply only if the oil meets the standards of the International Olive Council and the Codex. Olive pomace oil is called "olive pomace oil" or "olive residual oil": "sansa oil" is not accepted.
This page is part of exporting olive oil, and covers the Canadian market. The importer's licence, its control plan and the CETA origin declaration, which apply to every food, are in exporting food to Canada.
How to export olive oil to Canada: what the CFIA looks at
To export olive oil to Canada three things count that the CFIA spells out: the oil must be genuine, meaning no other oils and no pomace oil; the declared grade must hold until the best-before date; and the name on the label must follow international standards and the Canadian names.
| Point | What the CFIA asks | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Authenticity | No other oil and no pomace oil in a product represented as olive oil. | Notice of 24 April 2025 |
| Evidence | Checks on the foreign supplier, certificates of analysis, product testing. | Notice of 24 April 2025 |
| Shelf life | The declared grade applies for the whole shelf life of the product. | Notice of 24 April 2025 |
| Name | Extra virgin and virgin under IOC and Codex; pomace as "olive pomace oil". | CFIA, fats and oils |
Olive oil and fraud: the CFIA notice of 24 April 2025
The CFIA considers the addition of any other oil, or olive pomace oil, to a product represented as olive oil to be adulteration. In its notice to industry of 24 April 2025 it writes that it has a testing programme for olive oil authenticity and for added vegetable oils, and that its surveillance continues to find non-compliance.
«The addition of any other oil, or olive pomace oil, to a product represented as olive oil is considered adulteration.» (CFIA, notice to industry of 24 April 2025)
The consequences are written in the same notice: the CFIA may detain the product, have it destroyed, order its removal from Canada, apply administrative monetary penalties, prosecute, and suspend or cancel the importer's licence. That is why a serious Canadian importer asks for the analyses before the first order, not after.
What the Canadian importer asks of the mill
The Canadian importer must have a preventive control plan, and the CFIA expects it to contain measures for the safety of the oil and against false or misleading representation. Among the measures it lists checks on the foreign supplier's controls, valid assurances such as certificates of analysis, and product testing.
For the mill this means showing up with the lot's certificates of analysis already prepared. The request comes anyway, because it stems from the importer's plan, and answering straight away shortens the negotiation. The question to ask is which parameters they want analysed, by which laboratory and on which sample.
Extra virgin must stay extra virgin until the best-before date
For the CFIA the declared grade, such as «extra virgin» or «virgin», must meet the requirements of that grade for the whole shelf life of the product. An oil that is extra virgin at bottling and no longer within the parameters at the best-before date is a non-compliantly labelled oil.
The practical consequence is on the date written on the label and on the journey. The more months between arrival in Canada and the best-before date, the longer the oil must stay in its grade on the shelf. The downloadable sheet works out how many months of shelf life the lot has left when it reaches the importer.
The name on the label: extra virgin, virgin and olive pomace oil
In Canada olive oil is obtained from the fruit of the olive tree, Olea europaea L. The terms «extra virgin» and «virgin» are used only if the oil meets the standards of the International Olive Council and Codex CXS 33-1981, and «extra virgin» is allowed only for olive oil, not for other vegetable oils.
Olive pomace oil has two accepted names, «olive pomace oil» and «olive residual oil». «Sansa oil» is not accepted. The common name goes in English and French, as for every food in Canada, while fats and oils sold as such are always exempt from the front-of-package nutrition symbol (Food and Drug Regulations, B.01.350(5)(i)).
The Canadian label is added to the European base of marketing standards, described in the olive oil pillar page. The differences between markets are in the export label, market by market.
The template, to download
One file, two sheets. The first is the checklist, with the CFIA page next to each line and a drop-down status to fill in. The second takes the bottling date, the months to the best-before date and the expected arrival, and tells you how many months of shelf life the oil has left when it enters the importer's warehouse.
| File | What it contains | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil in CanadaExcel, two sheets | Eleven checklist lines with the source, and the calculation of remaining shelf life on arrival. |
The files are free. There is no form in front of them, we don't ask for an address and we receive no notification when someone downloads them. The sheet does not tell you whether your oil will hold until the best-before date: an analysis does.
Questions and answers
What do you need to export olive oil to Canada?
A Canadian importer with a Safe Food for Canadians licence and a preventive control plan, certificates of analysis for the lot, a bilingual label with the name of the oil under Canadian rules, and the CETA origin declaration for the tariff preference.
The CFIA monitors the authenticity of olive oil with a testing programme, and requires the declared grade to hold for the whole shelf life of the product.
Does the CFIA check imported olive oil?
Yes. In its notice to industry of 24 April 2025 the CFIA writes that it has a testing programme for olive oil authenticity and for added vegetable oils, and that its surveillance continues to find non-compliance.
Adding another oil or olive pomace oil to a product represented as olive oil is adulteration. Measures range from detaining the product to penalties and cancelling the importer's licence.
Does extra virgin olive oil exported to Canada have to remain extra virgin until the best-before date?
Yes. For the CFIA the declared grade, such as extra virgin or virgin, must meet the requirements of that grade for the whole shelf life of the product, not just at bottling.
That is why it is worth knowing how many months of shelf life the lot has left when it reaches the importer, and asking the laboratory for an analysis that takes that period into account.
What is olive pomace oil called on the Canadian label?
Olive pomace oil or olive residual oil. The CFIA gives these two names as acceptable for oil obtained from olive residues, and specifies that sansa oil is not accepted.
The common name also goes in French, as for every food sold in Canada.
Does olive oil in Canada need the front-of-package nutrition symbol?
No. Paragraph B.01.350(5)(i) of the Food and Drug Regulations always exempts fats and oils from the front-of-package nutrition symbol when they are sold as such, for example a bottle of olive oil.
The exemption concerns the front symbol; the rest of the label follows Canadian rules.
Notes on sources
- CFIA, notice to industry on olive oil compliance, 24 April 2025: adulteration, testing programme, importer measures, grade for the whole shelf life, enforcement tools. The quotation marks enclose the text verbatim.
- CFIA, labelling requirements for fats and oils, page modified 10 November 2025: oil from the fruit of the olive tree, extra virgin and virgin under IOC and Codex CXS 33-1981, the names of olive pomace oil, the exemption from the front-of-package nutrition symbol (B.01.350(5)(i)).
- The sources were read on 25 September 2026. No figures on the non-compliance found by the CFIA: the notice publishes none.
In Canada the first question is which analyses the importer wants.
Their control plan decides what they will ask you for. Having them ready before the offer is worth more than one more sample. With Itria we start from the outside to build custom digital systems for exporters. For you that translates into more requests, fewer losses and less manual work. Write us a line about what weighs on you. We take the first step: what a buyer sees when they look you up, and what we found there. Even if we don't end up working together.