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Food Labelling in CanadaFood Safety and Quality Summit, New DelhiNitin Verma, Counsellor Agriculture & Regulatory SpecialistCanadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)

December 5, 2017

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Food Labelling - Overview

• Food labels serve multiple objectives for stakeholders:– Basic information to enable informed choice & allow product comparison

– Public health, safety and nutrition information

– A tool for marketing and for fair and efficient commerce

• Federal oversight for food labelling is shared between Health Canada and the CFIA– Health Canada is responsible for establishing policies, regulations and

standards relating to the health, safety and nutritional quality of food.

– CFIA is responsible for non-health aspects:

• food safety requirements & enforcement of HC policies

• federal inspection services related to food safety, health, economic fraud, trade-related requirements

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The Current Canadian Label

Name of food(Common Name)

What nutrients are in food (Nutrition Facts Table)

What the food contains (List of Ingredients)

Where the food comes from(Origin Claim)

How long food will last (e.g. Best Before Date)

What allergens are present

Claims about certain nutrients (Nutrient Claim)

Pictures or claims on main ingredients (Vignette, claims)

Amount of food(Net Quantity)

Brand Name

Name and addressof company whomade or importedthe food

Mandatory information Voluntary information

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Core Labelling Requirements• Most prepackaged foods sold in Canada require:

– Common Name– Date Marking* and Storage Instructions– Dealer Name and Place of Business– List of Ingredients and Allergens– Net Quantity– Nutrition Facts Table

• This information must be legible and in both official languages (English and French)

• All information and representations on food labels must be truthful and not misleading

• There may also be commodity specific requirements – for example, certain commodities require country of origin labelling

* Most prepackaged products having a durable life of 90 days or less must be marked

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Core Labelling Requirements

• Common Name– The common name of the food must be provided on the

principal display panel. This is either the name prescribed in regulation (for example the name of a standardized food such as milk or bread) or the name by which it is commonly known.

• List of Ingredients– Ingredients and components (ingredients of ingredients) must

be declared by their common name and in descending order of proportion by weight.

– Eg. Ingredients list: Tomato paste (tomatoes, salt, benzoic acid), sugar, modified corn starch, lemon juice from concentrate (water, concentrated lemon juice, sugar, colour, benzoic acid), water, spices, salt, colour.

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Core Labelling Requirements

• List of Ingredients - Allergens– Priority allergens are required to be declared in food label ingredient lists.

– A separate “contains” statement at the end may also be used.

– Precautionary statements are used when a food allergen or gluten could be present as a result of cross-contamination; eg. “may contain peanuts”

Almonds Brazil nuts Cashews Hazelnuts Macadamia nutsPecansPine nuts Pistachios walnuts Sesame seedsEggs

MilkSoybeans Crustaceans ShellfishFishEggsMilkSoybeans Crustaceans Mustard seeds

Priority allergens in Canada

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Core Labelling Requirements• Nutrition Facts Table (NFt)

– The NFt is mandatory for most prepackaged foodsand is required to be presented in a certain mannerwhen it appears on a food label.

• Date Marking– Most prepackaged products having a durable life of

90 days or less must be marked with:– a durable life date ("best before"); and– storage instructions (if they differ from normal room temperature).

• Net Quantity– The principal display panel of prepackaged products sold to

consumers at retail must include a net quantity declaration, in metric units. In some cases, numerical count may be permitted instead of metric units.

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Core Labelling Requirements• Dealer Name and Address

– All prepackaged food products sold in Canada are required to be labelled with the identity and principal place of business of the company responsible for the product, such as the importer or manufacturer.

• When a food product is wholly manufactured outside of Canada, the label must show that the product is imported. This information can be provided in one of three ways:– the identity and principal place of business of the foreign manufacturer, or– the statement "imported for" or "imported by" followed by the identity

and principal place of business of the Canadian company; or– the identity and principal place of business of the Canadian company with

the country of origin of the product.

• For some commodities, it is mandatory to provide the country of origin (e.g. meat, dairy, fish and fish products, honey).

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Industry Labelling Toolhttp://www.inspection.gc.ca/eng/1383607266489/1383607344939

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Industry Labelling Checklisthttp://www.inspection.gc.ca/eng/1393275252175/1393275314581

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Ask CFIA

• What if you cannot find the information you are looking for in the Industry Labelling Tool?

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/eng/1466573216927/1466573290851

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Regulatory Initiatives• Nutrition Labelling

– Health Canada published amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations on December 14, 2016– New requirements related to nutrition labelling, list of ingredients, and colour labelling for

prepackaged food products.– Regulated parties have a five (5) year transition period - ends December 14, 2021.

• CFIA and Health Canada developed an implementation plan for HC’s amendments to nutrition labelling, ingredient lists, colours that describes what to expect over the 5 year transition period. Key changes:– new requirements regarding the legibility of the list of ingredients;– grouping of sugars in the list of ingredients;– various changes to information contained in the Nutrition Facts table (NFT);– new requirements for how food colours are declared;– removal of the requirement for certification of synthetic colours;– incorporation by reference of daily values, templates for the NFT formats, reference amounts,

serving sizes and most food colour specifications.

• Partially Hydrogenated Oils (PHO)– Health Canada published a Notice of Modification - Prohibiting the Use of Partially Hydrogenated

Oils (PHOs) in Foods on September 14, 2017.– This will take effect September 14, 2018

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Food Labelling Modernization• Drivers:

– Food industry innovation due to global trends and market pressures

– Increasing desire by consumers to make informed food choices

• Food Labelling Modernization initiative (FLM) was launched in June 2013 to develop a more modern food labelling system:

– amending key regulations , clarifying language, promoting consistency acrosscommodities, harmonizing where appropriate, and reviewing outdated regulations

• Phase III consultation on key proposals completed in March 2017

• CFIA is working to implement FLM proposals including regulatory amendments, taking into account stakeholder feedback

• Regulatory changes will follow the normal Canada Gazette process; consultation via pre-publication in Canada Gazette Part I & WTO

• Pre-publication in CGI is anticipated for fall 2018

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More Informationinspection.gc.ca/labelling

• CFIA Industry Labelling Tool:www.inspection.gc.ca/eng/1383607266489/1383607344939

• Ask CFIA:www.inspection.gc.ca/eng/1466573216927/1466573290851

• Food Labelling Modernization:www.inspection.gc.ca/eng/1370111174659/1370111346666

Nitin Verma, Counsellor Agriculture & Regulatory SpecialistCanadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)

High Commission of CanadaNitin.Verma@international.gc.ca

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Annex 1 - Summary of FLM Phase III Key Proposals

Item Key Proposals

1.1 Date Marking Increase flexibility in format, add year, align with Codex

1.2 Legibility Consistent requirements for type height, contrast and use of upper and lower case ; common name prominence

1.3 Food company information Add modern contacts (telephone, email); license holder

1.4 Origin of imported foods Add consistency across all foods by requiring ‘product of (naming country)’ on all wholly imported foods

1.5 Key ingredients emphasized Require percentage declaration of emphasized ingredient in ingredient list; use “flavour” or “flavoured” when flavouring is used instead of the actual ingredients

1.6 Ingredient list class names Incorporate by reference (IbR); harmonize with others

1.7 a. Food compositional standard IbR in the Food and Drug Regulations and Safe Food for Canadians Regulations; explore options to modernize

1.7b. Modified standard common names Consistent approach in regulations

1.8 Streamlining unnecessary regulations Horizontal approach across all food commodities; deregulate if not serving Canadian interests

1.9 Standard container sizes Deregulate products previously identified; IbR rest

1.10 Test market authorization Horizontal approach across commodities

2.0 New approach for truthful and not misleading labelling (new model)

Risk based, shifts primary relationship to industry and consumers for consumer values claims