CIFST Ontario connects food science professionals, students, suppliers, and partners across Ontario.
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Privacy / transparency Effective Feb. 8, 2026

Privacy Policy.

How CIFST Ontario collects, uses, and protects personal information.

Effective date: February 8, 2026

1. Personal Information We Collect

We collect personal information only when it is needed for a clear website purpose:

  • Contact, sponsorship, membership, and event inquiry forms: name, email, organization when relevant, inquiry type, subject, and message content.
  • Newsletter signup form: email address and optional source information, used only when you submit that signup form.
  • Member space: email address to verify access and keep the member-space experience functional.
  • Analytics: privacy-preserving, cookie-free website statistics collected through Umami, such as pages visited and general device information.

Event attendee workflows may collect attendee names, contact details, company or organization, dietary or allergy information, accessibility needs, language preference, optional pronouns or badge preferences, and operational notes needed to administer event check-in, name badges, food service, accessibility support, venue coordination, communications related to the event, and event operations.

2. Why We Use It

  • Respond to the request you sent through a contact, sponsorship, membership, or event form.
  • Verify membership status for member-space access.
  • Send chapter list updates only when you use a newsletter signup form or another future explicit opt-in.
  • Improve the website using aggregated, privacy-preserving statistics.

Submitting a contact or sponsorship form does not create newsletter or email marketing consent. If CIFST Ontario adds a broader marketing opt-in later, it should be presented as a separate choice.

3. Who Processes It

CIFST Ontario and authorized website operators use the information to respond to requests and maintain the site. Based on the current codebase, the public website uses these service providers:

Service Role Data Processed
ResendEmail delivery when form email is configuredSubmitted form content needed to route the message
UmamiCookie-free web analyticsAggregated website usage information

4. Cookies

The site uses a functional member-space cookie: icsta_membres_access, a signed cookie stored for 7 days to keep convenient access to member space on this device. Analytics are cookie-free. No advertising cookies are used.

5. Retention

Form messages are kept only as long as reasonably needed to respond, administer the request, and keep operational records. Functional member-space access expires after 7 days unless renewed.

6. Your Rights

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information by writing to team@cifstontario.com. CIFST Ontario will review the request and respond through the appropriate chapter or operator contact.

7. Changes

We may update this policy. The effective date at the top of this page will be updated accordingly.

8. Scope

This page is a plain-language privacy notice for the public website. It is not legal advice and does not claim complete compliance with every privacy requirement that may apply to CIFST Ontario or CIFST National.