What we heard report: Engaging on a strategy for modernizing food compositional standards

Introduction

The Government of Canada is committed to having clear, agile and responsive regulations. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is also committed to modernizing the food compositional standards to reflect its mandate, resources and priorities.

The CFIA administers and enforces the non-health and safety policies and regulations. This includes the responsibility for the non-health and safety aspects of food compositional standards and associated labelling requirements. Health Canada is responsible for establishing the policies and regulations related to the health, safety and nutritional quality of food sold in Canada (for example, fortification and food additives).

For the food compositional standards, Health Canada and the CFIA are proposing to modernize the Food and Drug Regulations framework by using incorporation by reference. This would allow the CFIA to maintain and update the standards in a transparent, timely and efficient manner. The proposed Regulations Amending Certain Regulations Concerning Food Additives and Compositional Standards, Microbiological Criteria and Methods of Analysis for Food were pre-published in the Canada Gazette, Part I, on November 4, 2023.

After these regulatory amendments are complete, the CFIA will be better positioned to review and modernize the standards that are incorporated by reference into the Food and Drug Regulations and the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations.

The consultation

The CFIA developed and consulted on a strategy for modernizing food compositional standards. The feedback will help the CFIA determine the volume and complexity of requests for modifications to food standards from stakeholders and estimate CFIA resource requirements. It will also help the CFIA maximize the efficiency of the modernization and manage the requests for changes to food standards, after the regulatory amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations are complete.

The consultation was open for comments from June 23, 2023, to September 22, 2023. This report summarizes the feedback received and the next steps for finalizing the strategy for modernizing the standards.

Who we heard from

During the comment period, the CFIA received 67 submissions that were within the scope of the consultation: 49 completed online questionnaires and 18 email responses. These represent the views of the following stakeholders:

consumers (20)
industry associations (16)
industry (15)
federal, provincial and territorial government departments (9)
consultants (5)
health professionals (2)

What we heard

Overall, respondents welcomed the opportunity to provide feedback and expressed their support for the CFIA's proposed strategy for modernizing food compositional standards. The following is a summary of their views on specific sections of the consultation.

Demand is high for changes to food standards

The majority of respondents confirmed the need to modernize food compositional standards.

They expressed that the standards are outdated, and that some standards are not aligned with provincial, territorial or international standards, or those of major trading partners. They also noted inconsistent requirements between the standards found in the Food and Drug Regulations, the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, Health Canada's Lists of Permitted Food Additives and the guidance documents.

In terms of anticipated volume, respondents expressed a desire to submit requests to add or update 436 standards. This is in addition to the requests to modify 23 standards that were previously submitted to the CFIA. They also identified 58 standards that they believe should be repealed. Together, these changes would impact a variety of foods, including dairy products, dressings, flavouring preparations, grain-based products, meat and poultry products, mushrooms, oils, plant-based foods, processed fruit products, seasonings, simulated animal protein products, spices, vinegars, white chocolate, and all foods listed in the document titled Table of Reference Amounts for Food.

After the regulatory amendments to modernize the Food and Drug Regulations framework for standards are complete, the CFIA will consider this information in its forward plan to modernize the standards. It will assess the submissions, and will notify and engage with stakeholders in accordance with its Incorporation by Reference Policy.

There was support for the CFIA's proposed guiding principles

There was overall support for the CFIA's proposed guiding principles to maximize the efficiency of modernization and to create an agile framework for the standards.

Respondents also provided suggestions regarding the contents of specific standards, which ranged from establishing minimal requirements to allow for innovation, to ensuring that some standards continue to set prescriptive requirements to prevent fraud. One respondent proposed that the standards be self-governed by the regulated parties instead of the CFIA.

The CFIA recognizes that the same approach to modernization may not be suitable for all standards and will use this information to finalize its strategy for modernizing the standards.

There was support for the CFIA's proposal for screening requests

There was overall support for using the CFIA's proposed criteria to screen requests for modifications to standards.

Respondents agreed that these criteria would establish a fair and transparent framework and would expedite the processing of requests.

There were also comments relating to these topics:

additional criteria to strengthen protecting consumers from fraud
documented industry consensus may not always be possible
some international standards include organoleptic properties (for example, taste)

There was support for the CFIA's proposed approach to prioritizing requests

There was overall support for the CFIA's proposal to prioritize submissions that address industry issues.

Some respondents questioned if the CFIA would further rank the industry issues. For example, there were preferences to prioritize requests that impact multiple food sectors, or those that remove barriers in addressing the amounts of saturated fat, sugars and/or sodium because these are identified as nutrients of public health concern in Health Canada's front-of-package nutrition symbol labelling initiative.

Out of the 4 respondents who did not support the proposal, 1 requested that the CFIA use consumer protection as the only criterion for prioritization, while another suggested that the CFIA address submissions on a first-come, first-served basis.

There was support for the CFIA's proposed method for clearly communicating decisions

There was overall support for the CFIA's proposal to clearly communicate decisions regarding next steps to the requestors after it has analysed the submissions.

Respondents welcomed the transparency and encouraged the CFIA to convey the status, next steps and communication channels to the requestors, the impacted industry sectors and the public. They also want this information conveyed in plain language, using a platform or database. Some also suggested that the CFIA establish service standards for the submissions.

There was support for the CFIA to consolidate requests for modernization of standards

There was overall support for the CFIA's proposal to consolidate requests based on commodity groups or sub-groups, in order to maximize efficiency during proposal development and engagement.

One respondent cautioned that there might be compelling situations where modifying isolated standards would be warranted, while another suggested that the CFIA clarify the timeframe before consolidating similar requests.

Next steps

The CFIA thanks everyone who participated in the consultation process. It will consider all input when finalizing its strategy for modernizing food compositional standards, which will include a forward plan for the modernization of standards.

The CFIA anticipates publishing the strategy before the proposed Regulations Amending Certain Regulations Concerning Food Additives and Compositional Standards, Microbiological Criteria and Methods of Analysis for Food are published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, anticipated in fall 2024 as outlined in the CFIA Forward Regulatory Plan: 2024 to 2026.

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