Indonesian Coffee Export to Canada: CFIA SFCR 2025 Guide

A practical, exporter-first playbook to build a one-page SFCR Supplier Attestation of Compliance pack for Indonesian coffee shipments to Canada in 2025. Exact statements to include, proof attachments, kill‑step validation options, lot coding that works, and renewal cadence that buyers actually accept.

If you sell coffee into Canada, your importer is probably asking for a “Supplier Attestation of Compliance” tied to CFIA’s Safe Food for Canadians Regulations. We went from long email chains and port delays to zero-question approvals by using a one-page attestation with the right attachments. Here’s the exact system we use and share with partners.

The 3 pillars of an SFCR supplier attestation that clears customs

1. Say the right things, in the right order. Your attestation is not a certificate from CFIA. It’s your signed statement that you operate to an equivalent standard. Keep it one page and make the claims verifiable.

2. Attach proof that matters. A short PCP summary, roasting kill-step evidence for finished coffee, and targeted COAs for hazards like ochratoxin A for green lots. No 60-page manuals. Buyers don’t read them.

3. Make traceability obvious. A clear lot code that ties product, date, and facility together. If an importer can’t trace within 24 hours, you’ll feel it at inspection.

Practical takeaway. One concise letter plus four smart attachments beats a massive document dump every time.

Week 1–2: Map hazards and gather proofs

We treat this like a sprint. In our experience, two weeks is enough to assemble a credible pack for coffee.

• Define your product set. Green vs roasted matters. A green shipment of Blue Batak Green Coffee Beans will need different evidence than a roasted pallet of Roasted Arabica Java Coffee.

• Do a quick hazard analysis by product type.

  • Green coffee. Storage mold and OTA, physical hazards from hulling, pest contamination during drying or warehousing. For naturals or special fermentations like our Bali Natural Green Coffee Beans or Bali, Java, Gayo & Mandheling - Wine Green Arabica Coffee Beans, importers increasingly ask for OTA data per lot.
  • Roasted coffee. Pre-roast contamination is controlled by the roast lethality. Post-roast risks are recontamination, foreign material, and staling if packaging is compromised.

• Collect targeted proofs.

  • PCP summary. Three to five pages that explain how you control the above hazards. Keep the full SOPs in-house for audits.
  • Kill-step evidence for roasted products. Roast curve summaries, critical limits, and verification records.
  • COAs. For green coffee, include OTA. Many Canadian buyers adopt EU benchmarks in the absence of a Canadian-specific limit. We typically target ≤5 µg/kg for roasted and ≤10 µg/kg for soluble as buyer specs. Add moisture and water activity if you have them. For organic claims, include current organic certificate.
  • Traceability map. One diagram that shows one step back and forward with example lot codes.

Practical takeaway. If a document doesn’t answer “what is the hazard and how do you control it,” leave it out of the initial pack.

Week 3–6: Build the one-page attestation and validation pack

What exactly should my SFCR Supplier Attestation say for coffee?

Here is a copy‑paste template we use. Adjust to your facility and products.

Title. Supplier Attestation of Compliance – Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR)

We, PT FoodHub Collective Indonesia (Indonesia-Coffee), certify that the coffee products supplied to [Importer Name, Canada] are manufactured, packed, and stored under a documented Preventive Control Plan that meets the intent of CFIA’s SFCR Part 4. We maintain traceability one step forward and one step back as required by SFCR Part 5. We can provide records to support this attestation within 24 hours of request.

For roasted coffee. Lethality is achieved by roasting. Our validated kill step and ongoing verification are summarized in the attached Kill-Step Validation Summary. Routine batch records are retained.

For green coffee. We control hazards including ochratoxin A, physical contamination, and pests through approved-supplier programs, drying parameters, storage controls, cleaning and sorting, and targeted COAs. Representative COAs for each lot are attached.

We agree to notify our Canadian partners within 24 hours of any deviation that could impact food safety, and we maintain a documented recall and corrective action program.

Signed. Name, Title, Facility address, Date, Email, Phone

Do I need a full Preventive Control Plan or will a summary satisfy a Canadian buyer?

You need a PCP. But most importers accept a concise summary with attached evidence because they don’t want your entire manual. Our PCP summary is typically 3–5 pages and includes:

• Facility overview and flowchart for green and roasted lines
• Hazard analysis by step with controls and monitoring
• Supplier approval criteria for cherry, parchment, and green
• Sanitation and pest control program snapshot, plus last two internal audit dates
• Allergen statement and cross-contact controls
• Recall and corrective action process with 24-hour contact tree

Keep the detailed SOPs, calibration logs, sanitation records, and pest trending in your files. Offer them upon request.

How do I prove my roasting step controls pathogens for CFIA?

We use three layers of evidence. You don’t always need all three, but the combination is powerful.

• Literature and equivalency. Cite peer-reviewed data for Salmonella inactivation in low-moisture foods and coffee, then map your roast profiles to a conservative critical limit. Typical drum roasts reach bean temperatures well above 180 C for several minutes, which exceeds 5-log reduction requirements seen in similar commodities.

• Your data. Include a one-page Roast Kill-Step Summary. Name the roaster, bean temperature probe location, your minimum time-above-temperature criteria, and examples of roast curves for light and medium profiles. For our Roasted Espresso Coffee Blend, we verify that the bean temperature exceeds our critical limit for a defined dwell time and we spot-check batch logs weekly.

• Optional third-party. A challenge study or validated surrogate study is gold, but not mandatory for most buyers if your process has a solid scientific basis and records.

Practical tip. Keep it simple. One paragraph of science, one figure of a roast curve, and one table of critical limits is usually enough.

What lot code format does Canada expect on coffee bags and master cartons?

CFIA doesn’t prescribe the exact format. They require that you can trace one step forward and back quickly. We recommend a human-readable code plus a QR or barcode.

Our standard format.

• Facility code. Two letters. Example. BK for Bali Kintamani.
• Date code. Year plus day-of-year. Example. 25045 for 2025, day 045.
• Product code. Short code like AJI for Arabica Java Ijen or RJ for Roasted Java.
• Batch sequence. Two digits. Example. 01.

Printed as. BK-25045-AJI-01 on bag labels and master cartons, with a QR that links to the lot record. For roasted consumer packs, include roast date separately for transparency.

Practical takeaway. Whatever you choose, lock it into your PCP and keep it consistent across labels, CMR, and COAs.

Week 7–12: Scale, automate, and set your renewal cadence

• Renewal frequency. We refresh the attestation annually or whenever something material changes. New facility, new processing step, or a significant change in roasting equipment triggers an update. OTA COAs are per lot. Kill-step validation is annual unless the profile or roaster changes.

• Automate document names so buyers can file them. Examples.

  • 2025-01 Supplier Attestation – Indonesia-Coffee – Facility BK.pdf
  • 2025-01 PCP Summary – Indonesia-Coffee v3.2.pdf
  • 2025-02 Kill Step Validation – Roasted Java – RJ.pdf
  • 2025-02 COA – OTA – BK-25045-AJI-01.pdf
  • 2025-02 Traceability Map – Coffee.pdf

• Build once, reuse often. The same pack works for single-origin greens like Arabica Java Ijen Grade 1 Green Coffee Beans and for roasted SKUs with minor tweaks.

Need a fillable one-page template with the exact statements and file naming checklist we use? You can Contact us on whatsapp. We’ll share a copy and review your draft.

The 5 mistakes that get coffee held up in Canada

1. Sending certificates without context. ISO 22000 or FSSC 22000 helps, but it doesn’t replace an SFCR-focused attestation. We include certificates as supporting documents only.

2. No OTA data for naturals and special fermentations. We’ve seen importers request holds for wine-fermented and natural lots until a COA arrives. If you’re exporting Bali Natural Green Coffee Beans, test before you ship.

3. Over-sharing process details. A 70-page HACCP manual can raise more questions than it answers. Keep the PCP summary concise with clear controls and limits.

4. Inconsistent lot codes across bag labels, packing list, and COA. If codes don’t match, traceability fails. We do a pre-shipment cross-check.

5. Weak kill-step evidence for roasted products. A claim like “we roast hot, so it’s safe” doesn’t fly. Show the curve and the critical limit. It takes an hour to assemble and saves days at port.

Quick answers to questions we get a lot

• Will HACCP, ISO 22000, or FSSC 22000 certificates replace the SFCR attestation. No. They strengthen your case but your buyer still needs an SFCR-aligned statement and proofs.

• Do green coffee exporters need different evidence than roasted coffee suppliers. Yes. Green needs OTA and storage controls. Roasted needs kill-step validation and post-roast GMPs. Both need traceability.

• Documents a Canadian importer typically wants from a foreign coffee supplier. One-page attestation, PCP summary, kill-step validation summary for roasted, COAs per lot for OTA and moisture, product spec sheet, allergen statement, organic certificate if claimed, packing list and labels with lot codes that match. Keep logistics papers separate.

What’s interesting is how fast this has standardized over the last year. We’ve seen more importers ask for OTA on specific origins and processes, and more accept a one-page PCP summary when it’s tight and evidence-based.

If you want to browse the Indonesian origins and processes we can support under this documentation setup, you can View our products. And if you’re unsure whether your current roast profile will satisfy a kill-step review, Contact us on whatsapp and we’ll pressure-test it against what Canadian buyers are asking for right now.