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relations and grocery division at the Retail
Council of Canada.
“What we have right now is a very,
very informed and educated consumer,”
he said. “They are looking to make
choices for their families that meet their
unique needs.
“You just have to walk through the
aisles to see the expanding variety of
labels,” he added. “They wouldn’t be on
the shelf if they weren’t of interest to the
consumer.”
To get a grip on the proliferation of
new food labels and product claims,
the federal government announced the
Food Labelling Modernization Initiative
in the 2013 Speech From the Throne.
This work is being undertaken by
Health Canada and the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency (CFIA), which share
responsibility for food labelling.
Gary Holub, a spokesperson for
Health Canada, said an initial round
of consultations with consumers and
producers began in January and was
completed in April.
“Over the past few months,
Health Minister Rona Ambrose and
her colleagues have hosted round
table discussions across the country
and provided all Canadians with an
opportunity to provide feedback directly
to Health Canada by filling out an online
questionnaire,” he said.
Holub did not say when the new
regulations are expected to come
into force.
Core food labelling requirements
in Canada are quite simple. As a
baseline, all foods—with the exception
of products like raw fruits and
vegetables—must have a label. This
must include the food’s common name,
expiration date, net quantity, a list of
ingredients and the familiar nutritional
information box. Beyond this, it must
be bilingual, include the name and
address of the manufacturer, and list any
allergens contained.
Nutrition claims such as “cholesterol-
free” and “reduced in calories” are also
permitted, as are certain limited health
claims such as “a healthy diet low in
saturated and trans fats may reduce the
risk of heart disease.”
Voluntary labelling not related to the
safety of the product, on the other hand,
is a bit of a mixed bag. Used primarily
for marketing purposes, these voluntary
claims range from highly regulated to
virtually meaningless.
Laura Gomez is an Ottawa-based
lawyer with Gowlings, and specializes
in food labelling. She said that there are
pages and pages of regulations behind
some product claims, but relatively little
for others.
“Consumers really want to have
clear labelling and they want it to be
true,” she said. “But consumers may
not necessarily understand what the
regulations are, so there is potential for
some confusion.”
On the heavily regulated end of the
spectrum are certified organic claims.
According to Gomez, organic producers
are frequently audited by government-
certified inspectors who check every
step of the product process to ensure
no synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or
other substances are used. Only then
are products found to have greater than
95 per cent organic content allowed to
use the “Canada Organic” logo, which
increasing numbers of consumers look
for. Should a producer fail to meet the
stringent Canada Organic Regime
standard, it is delisted and must stop
making organic claims.
The tight regulatory oversight for
organics is a major contributor to the high
costs of these products, Gomez said.
“When you are adding more
information to a food label that requires
certifying information through the food
supply chain, that will likely increase the
cost of manufacturing that product.”
Labelling claims are now extending to
genetically modified organisms (GMO),
as well. To see products branded “non-
GMO” or “GMO free” is becoming
increasingly common, with even
stalwart brands like Cheerios adopting
a voluntary non-GMO label, meaning
the cereal doesn’t contain genetically
modified organisms.
Canada currently has a voluntary
labelling scheme for foods that are not
products of biotechnology or genetic
engineering, but parts of the United
States are moving aggressively towards
mandatory GMO labelling. In early May,
the Vermont senate passed a law to enact
mandatory labelling of GMOs, making
it the third U.S. state to pass such a law
after Maine and Connecticut.
Cathleen Enright is executive vice-
president for food and agriculture at the
Biotechnology Industry Organization,
an American pro-GMO lobby group.
She said mandatory GMO labelling will
require extensive product re-labelling,
and some major brands may reconsider
selling their products in these states,
given the high cost of changing labels for
a relatively small market.
Enright said companies are searching
for ways to defray the costs of expensive
voluntary labelling. Major cereal producer
Post, for example, recently made Grape-
Nuts GMO-free but reduced package
contents from 32 to 29 ounces while
keeping the price per box the same.
Enright said there is an ongoing push
from the American industry for national
regulations on GMO labelling, to keep
costs down and labelling consistent from
state to state.
The Food Issue
2014
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