The amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations related to Nutrient labelling, list of Ingredients and food colours came into effect on December 14, 2016. Companies had a five year period to implement these requirements with the exception of amendments to food colours specifications and removal of synthetic colour certification requirements.
All products must now meet these amended regulations.
Additional amendments were published in Canada Gazette part II on July 20, 2022. These concern Nutrition symbols, other labelling provisions, Vitamin D and Hydrogenated Fats or Oils. There is a 3.5 year transition period ending on January 1, 2026.
The key changes relate to:
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- new labelling requirements in the form of a front-of-package nutrition symbol for
prepackaged products deemed high in saturated fats, sugars and/or sodium - new restrictions for health claims and nutrient content claims related to saturated fats, sugars and sodium
- repealing the table of nutrient content claims and incorporating it by reference into the Food and Drug Regulations
- labelling requirement changes for certain high-intensity sweeteners to align with other sweeteners
- definitions and references to hydrogenated fats or oils to ensure a coherent prohibition on the use of partially hydrogenated oils in foods
- increase of vitamin D fortification levels in cow’s milk, goat’s milk and margarine
- new labelling requirements in the form of a front-of-package nutrition symbol for
Details can be found at https://canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2022/2022-07-20/html/sor-dors168-eng.html
Food regulations are often very complex and confusing. Our team can help you understand the various federal and provincial regulations that affect your products.
Most pre-packaged foods sold in Canada require nutritional labelling. Nutrient values can be determined 
using laboratory analyses of the product itself or may be calculated from values of each individual ingredient with consideration of processing effects.
Our team of specialists can help you design a testing program to determine the appropriate approach for your product. We provide a complete service from the determination nutrient values to a final Nutrition Fact Table sized for your package. We can also provide bilingual ingredient declarations.
US requirements are different from those in Canada and if you ship to the US we can also help you develop the appropriate labelling for those products.