Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

Animal Health and Welfare Service Standards

Our Mandate

Advance animal health and welfare and veterinary public health through education, inspection, surveillance, research and emergency preparedness/response.

Our Services

The main services delivered by the Animal Health and Welfare Branch relate to Permits, Licences, Certificates & Registrations, as well as response to Animal Health Incidents.

Our Service Standards

The three service standards delivered by the Animal Health and Welfare Branch are Inspection, Licensing, and Response.

• Inspection - Under numerous legislative authorities, staff carry out inspection and enforcement activities in meat plants, deadstock facilities, livestock auction markets, animal research and supply facilities, municipal pound facilities, livestock medicine outlets and bee yards.
  • We aim to provide a written inspection report within 30 business days. If we are unable to provide the report, clients will be notified on when they may expect a report within 30 business days.
• Licensing - The branch also administers licensing programs under various pieces of livestock and other animal related legislation.
  • We aim to mail out approved new license applications within 30 business days of receipt, provided the licence application is fully completed.
• Response - The branch responds to animal health incidents reported under the Reporting Regulation of the Animal Health Act, for example potential domestic animal exposures to rabies that are reported through the Agricultural Information Contact Centre or the OMAFRA Situation Response Team.
  • We aim to respond to all Animal Health Incident reports within 1 business day, by either phone or email.

Results for 2017-18

Service Standard	Target (%)	Actual (%)
We aim to provide a written inspection report within 30 business days. If we are unable to provide the report, clients will be notified on when they may expect a report within 30 business days.	90	98
We aim to mail out approved new license applications within 30 business day of receipt, provided the licence application is fully completed.	90	95
We aim to respond to all Animal Health Incident reports within 1 business day, by either phone or email.	95	100

Feedback/Complaints

We want to provide the best service that we can and your feedback helps us to improve. If you have comments, questions or concerns about our service we encourage you to let us know. Please contact us by calling the Agricultural Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300 or use the Feedback Form or send an e-mail to ag.info.omafra@ontario.ca.