Open for Business


Help Ontario Make Business Easier for the Food Processing Sector

Ontario is asking businesses and the public to help identify and improve regulations that are unclear, outdated, redundant or unnecessarily costly for the food processing sector.

Feedback can be provided online by visiting Ontario.ca/RedTapeChallenge, a crowd-sourced platform that gives businesses and other interested Ontarians the chance to review current regulations and suggest improvements. The deadline for submissions is September 30, 2016.


Open for Business

Ontario is working with industry to help agri-food businesses be more competitive and productive. The Open for Business strategy encourages government and the agri-food sector to work together to clear the path for business success. At a recent meeting of the Open for Business Agri-Food Stakeholder Forum, the following changes were announced:

  • Greenhouse Nutrient Feedwater Regulation: This new regulation is making it easier for greenhouse growers to comply with environmental standards regarding the disposal of greenhouse nutrient feedwater by streamlining environmental compliance and reducing the costs and uncertainty of approvals. It promotes the reuse, and facilitates the recycling of, greenhouse nutrient feedwater while providing farmers with a new source of nutrients to fertilize their crops and protecting the environment.
  • Meat Regulation amendments: These amendments respond to industry issues by creating more flexible, outcome-based regulatory requirements and promoting competitiveness and innovation for the industry without compromising food safety.
  • Anaerobic Digester regulation changes: Amendments to the Nutrient Management Regulation will allow farm-based digesters to treat more off-farm materials. This fulfills a commitment to increase renewable energy generation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and foster innovation and economic opportunities in rural Ontario.

Other examples of red tape reduction include:

  • Replacing two outdated regulations with a single regulation that reflects current industry practices and maintains Ontario's food safety standards. This made it easier for Ontario's egg producers and grading and processing stations to get their product to market and reassures consumers that the eggs they buy are safe.
  • Streamlining packing and grading standards to give fruit and vegetable growers and packers more choice in how they market their products to meet new market demands.
  • Updating provincial carcass grading regulations for veal so that any meat plant - provincial or federal - would provide the same, consistent, quality product to consumers, thereby enhancing the reputation and competitiveness of Ontario's veal industry.
  • Providing producers, processors and agri-food business with easier access to needed information through a single phone number, as part of our One Window initiative.
  • Co-ordinating assistance to investors so that they can establish and expand operations faster. Ministry staff are reviewing the current approach to supporting investments in innovation and developing options and recommendations.

For more information on how government and industry are working together to create faster, smarter and streamlined government-to-business services, see the Business Sector Strategy: Agriculture and Agri-food.


For more information:
Toll Free: 1-877-424-1300
E-mail: ag.info.omafra@ontario.ca