Animal health in the context of "European Food Safety Authority"

The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, also known as the SPS Agreement or just SPS, is an international treaty of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It was negotiated during the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and entered into force with the establishment of the WTO at the beginning of 1995. Broadly, the sanitary and phytosanitary ("SPS") measures covered by the agreement are those aimed at the protection of human, animal or plant life or health from certain risks.

Under the SPS agreement, the WTO sets constraints on member-states' policies relating to food safety (bacterial contaminants, pesticides, inspection and labelling) as well as animal and phytosanitary measures with respect to the importation of plants (prevention of pests and diseases). There are 3 standards organizations who set standards that WTO members should base their SPS methodologies on. As provided for in Article 3, they are the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Secretariat of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC).

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA; French: Agence canadienne d'inspection des aliments (ACIA)) is a regulatory agency that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, plants, and animals (FPA) in Canada, thus enhancing the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy. The agency is responsible to the Minister of Health.

The agency was created in April 1997 by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act for the purpose of consolidating the delivery of all federal food safety, animal health, and plant health regulatory programs in Canada. As such, the CFIA was established by combining and integrating the related inspection services of three separate federal government departments: