Buy from a licensed importer, or import Levantine food yourself?

The two paths, compared

Both paths get the same Levantine goods onto your shelf or into your kitchen. What differs is who carries the compliance weight, and how long it takes to start.

What importing directly actually involves

Importing directly means applying for the SFC licence yourself, with a written preventive control plan already in place, before a shipment can clear the border (CFIA — what to consider before applying for a licence). Processing alone can take up to 15 business days, and roughly 70 business days if the CFIA needs to carry out pre-issuance verification — so the decision to import directly is really a decision to plan months, not weeks, ahead. The fuller walk-through of the requirements is in importing Middle Eastern food into Canada.

None of that is a reason to avoid the category — Levantine pantry goods move through this system every day. It's a reason to be deliberate about who in your supply chain is carrying the licence, and to confirm it rather than assume it.

Why buying from a licensed importer is the practical choice

The reassurance is straightforward and it comes straight from the CFIA's own framing: a business that buys food from a licensed Canadian importer or distributor is not itself importing, so it does not need its own SFC licence, PCP or traceability system (CFIA — importing food). What you're buying, in effect, is the compliance work as well as the product.

That's the whole basis of a catalogue like Levant Direct: eight named supplier houses across Jordan, Syria, Türkiye and Egypt, brought to Canada through the standard importing framework, and quoted to GTA buyers by the case through a written inquiry. Ask any supplier the direct question — who holds the import licence for what I'm buying — and a clear answer is one of the better signals you're dealing with a serious operation; see how to evaluate a wholesale food supplier.

When importing directly does make sense

A handful of situations genuinely call for a business to hold its own licence: a private-label brand large enough to want direct producer relationships at volume, a retailer building a permanent import operation rather than a supplier relationship, or a business whose category isn't served by any existing importer. Even then, the practical move for most operators is to run on a licensed importer's catalogue first, learn the category, and revisit the question once volume justifies the compliance overhead — private label Levantine products covers that path in more depth.

It's worth being honest about what the licence buys you in that scenario, too: it's the right to arrange your own shipments, not a shortcut past the underlying work. You'd still be writing the preventive control plan, still be keeping the traceability records, and still be the party the CFIA calls first if something goes wrong with a lot. That's a reasonable trade for a business that wants direct producer relationships at real volume — it's a poor trade for a single restaurant account that just wants a reliable case of za'atar.

This page is general guidance, not legal advice — confirm your specific situation with the CFIA.

What actually changes for your own paperwork

Buying from a licensed importer doesn't mean no paperwork at all — it means a different, much lighter kind. You'll still want your own purchase records, delivery documentation and, if you resell, your own product information for customers. What disappears is the importer-specific burden: no SFC licence application, no preventive control plan to write and maintain, and no import-side traceability system to build, because that work already sits with the party who brought the goods across the border.

That's a genuine simplification, not a technicality. It's the difference between adding a supplier to your existing operations and standing up a regulated import business — and for most GTA restaurants, cafés and grocers, the first is the only one that was ever necessary.