Notice to industry - Implementation of the 2016 nutrition labelling regulatory amendments

As part of Health Canada's Healthy Eating Strategy, amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) related to nutrition labelling were announced on December 14, 2016. A 5 year transition period, ending on December 14, 2021, was originally provided to give industry time to make the necessary changes to their labels and to use up existing labels to comply with the requirements.

Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) are providing enforcement flexibility to support industry in meeting the labelling requirements described in the FDR amendments.

While the end of the transition period for the amendments will remain December 14, 2021, the CFIA will focus its efforts on education and compliance promotion for the first year (until December 14, 2022). After December 14, 2022, the CFIA will verify compliance and apply enforcement discretion in cases of non-compliance where regulated parties have a detailed plan that shows how they intend to meet the new requirements at the earliest possible time, and no later than December 14, 2023.

The implementation plan for the transition period has been updated to reflect this approach.

The CFIA has also updated the amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations related to nutrition labelling, list of ingredients and food colours page to reflect this.

For any questions related to compliance with the nutrition labelling regulations, please contact your local CFIA local office.

For any other inquiries related to nutrition labelling, please contact Health Canada at bns-bsn@hc-sc.gc.ca.