As part of Health Canada’s Healthy Eating Strategy, the final amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) Nutrition Labelling, Other Labelling Provisions and Food Colours were published in Canada Gazette, Part II on December 14, 2016. Improvement have been made to the nutrition facts table and list of ingredients on food labels based on feedback from Canadians and stakeholders. The food industry has a transition period of 5 years to make these changes. This means that you might start seeing new food labels as early as 2017.
The changes to the nutrition facts table include:
- making the serving size more:
- consistent so that it’s easier to compare similar foods
- realistic so that it reflects the amount that Canadians typically eat in one sitting
- making the information on serving size and calories easier to find and read by:
- increasing the font size of serving size and calories
- adding a bold line under the calories
- revising the % daily values based on updated science
- adding a new % daily value for total sugars
- updating the list of nutrients to:
- add potassium because:
- it’s important for maintaining healthy blood pressure
- most Canadians are not getting enough of this nutrient
- remove vitamin A and vitamin C because:
- most Canadians get enough of these nutrients in their diets
- add potassium because:
- adding the amounts in milligrams (mg) for potassium, calcium and iron
- adding a footnote at the bottom of the table about % daily value
- this will help consumers understand how much sugar and other nutrients (like sodium) are in their food and will explain that:
- 5% or less is a little
- 15% or more is a lot
- this will help consumers understand how much sugar and other nutrients (like sodium) are in their food and will explain that:
To view an example of these changes please visit Health Canada’s website at:
Eat happy, eat healthy.