Do federal food rules cover my Kanata food plant floor?

Whether federal food rules govern your Kanata plant's floor depends on one question: does your establishment hold a licence under the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SOR/2018-108)? If it does, and the floor is in an area covered by that licence, then section 57 of the SFCR applies. If it does not, the Ontario Food Premises regulation, O. Reg. 493/17, is the rule in play, enforced by Ottawa Public Health.

Under the SFCR s.57, floors in a licensed establishment must be smooth, non-absorbent and impervious to moisture (except where there is no contamination risk), must provide or permit good drainage except where there is no risk of liquid accumulation, and must be made of materials that are durable and capable of withstanding repeated cleaning. Under O. Reg. 493/17 s.7(1)(c), a food premise must be operated and maintained so that floors in food-handling, food-service, utensil-cleaning and sanitary-fixture rooms are tight, smooth and non-absorbent. The Ontario standard does not use the word "impervious" and we found nothing in it requiring drains, coving or slope. The two sets of rules describe the floor's performance differently, so knowing which one applies to your plant changes what you need to confirm.

A few things to sort out before booking any floor work:

• Check with your quality lead or CFIA contact to confirm whether your Kanata establishment is named in an SFCR licence and which areas of the plant fall under it.
• Ottawa Public Health asks to be notified when a food premises is established, built, changed or significantly renovated. We found nothing that says whether re-coating an existing floor counts as a significant renovation: ask OPH before scheduling the work.

Ask the contractor for the product data sheet and safety data sheet for every product going on the floor, and ask them to show you how the system meets the performance standard that applies to your plant, whether that is the SFCR or O. Reg. 493/17.

The request form on this site sends your project to local Ottawa floor coating contractors, who reply by email.