New labelling regulations for Canadian baked goods, special meeting July 7, 11 a.m. EST

The baking industry of Canada has been engaging with Health Canada on the new labelling legislation for pre-packaged foods. Please see details below. The Baking Association of Canada is having a special Q and A meeting on Thursday morning (July 7) to discuss any concerns or questions that you may have regarding the new rules and how they impact the baking industry. Please join and respond to this Zoom invite. Please pass this on to those in your organization that would be interested in joining this very important session.

Here is the link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83022095104?pwd=azkxMWUySUVnN29TU0NyL0F5c1E0dz09

Health Canada announces a new front-of-package nutrition label

Health Canada recently announced a key part of the healthy eating strategy. The strategy is to support the health needs of Canadians by addressing specific nutrients – sodium, sugars and saturated fats that have been shown to be linked to diet-related chronic disease.

The label mandate is to provide “a quick and easy tool to help make informed choices” by implementing a mandatory front-of-package nutrition symbol if the threshold is met or exceeded. The “high in” symbols make it quicker for consumers to make healthier and informed food choices by being visible in a consistent location with a “simple and visible, interpretive and credible symbol”.

Foods that will require a FOP nutrition symbol include:

• General prepackaged foods that meet or exceed 15 per cent DV of saturated fat, sugars or sodium. Such foods could include deli meats, soups, frozen desserts or puddings.

• Prepackaged foods with a small reference amount (≤ 30 g or ml) that meet or exceed 10 per cent DV of saturated fat, sugars or sodium because these foods are typically consumed in smaller amounts and can be concentrated sources of these nutrients. They also have a lower threshold, such as pickles, salad dressing, cookies or breakfast cereals.

• Prepackaged main dishes with a reference amount of ≥ 200 g* that meet or exceed 30 per cent DV of saturated fat, sugars or sodium because foods that are consumed as a main dish can be expected to make up more of your daily intake of nutrients, they have a higher threshold. This would include foods like frozen lasagna, meat pie or pizza.

*Foods that will require a FOP nutrition symbol.

Health Canada is exempting certain foods from the requirement to display a FOP nutrition symbol. There are three different types of exemptions:

• Health-based exemptions: Foods that have recognizable health benefits such as fresh, frozen, canned or dried fruit and vegetables that are whole or cut, plain milk (2 per cent, 3.25 per cent), most cheese, plain yogurt, buttermilk and kefir, whole eggs, foods with a healthy fat profile such as nuts, seeds and their butters.

• Technical exemptions are foods that are exempt from the Nutrition Facts table, such as foods sold at farmer’s markets, raw, single-ingredient whole cut and ground meat and poultry, food that are not sold directly to consumers, such as those intended for further manufacturing or institutional use, foods in very small packages, food prepared and processed from ingredients at retail and foods that voluntarily carry a Nutrition Facts table.

• Practical exemptions: Foods where the symbol would be redundant like sweetening agents, salts and butter, ghee and other fats and oils.

Industry is given a date of January 1, 2026, to be in full compliance. Next week, the regulations and guidance documents will be released to provide more information and an opportunity for input and comments from industry.

Contact Martin Barnett, executive director, at mbarnett@baking.ca, or Denise Lee, director, technical and nutritional policy, at dlee@baking.ca.