Health Products and Food Branch

The Health Products and Food Branch's (HPFB) mandate is to manage the health-related risks and benefits of health products and food by:

• minimizing health risk factors to Canadians while maximizing the safety provided by the regulatory system for health products and food
• providing information to Canadians so they can make healthy, informed decisions about their health

What we do

We work to protect and promote the health and safety of Canadians by being a trusted scientific and regulatory authority for health products and food in Canada and internationally.

The Health Products and Food Branch helps Canadians maintain and improve their health by:

• evaluating and monitoring the safety, quality and efficacy of:
  • health products (including pharmaceutical, biological and radiopharmaceutical drugs, medical devices, and natural health products)
  • foods
  • veterinary drugs (in order to protect the safety of Canada's food supply)
• developing, promoting, and implementing nutrition and food policies and standards
• providing timely, evidence-based, and authoritative information to allow healthy and informed decisions
• anticipating and responding to public health and safety issues associated with health products, food, and nutrition

To learn about the drugs and medical devices approved for sale in Canada in the first half of 2020 and our response to COVID-19, please see our Mid-year update: Drugs and medical devices approved in 2020.

Find reports from previous years.

To learn about what we are doing to make food safe and to make healthy eating the easier choice for you, please see our Food and nutrition highlights report.

Directorates and offices

Health Products and Food Branch activities are carried out through offices in the National Capital Region

• Biologic and Radiopharmaceutical Drugs Directorate
• Food Directorate
• Marketed Health Products Directorate
• Medical Devices Directorate
• Natural and Non-prescription Health Products Directorate
• Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion
• Pharmaceutical Drugs Directorate
• Policy, Planning and International Affairs Directorate
• Resource Management and Operations Directorate
• Veterinary Drugs Directorate

For more information

• External Advisory Bodies
• Public Engagement
• Drugs and Health Products
• Food and Nutrition
• Information and privacy notice for specific Health Products and Food Branch initiatives