Labelling requirements for sweeteners and foods that contain sweeteners

Overview

The intent of this page is to outline the labelling requirements for sweeteners and foods that contain sweeteners.

The only sweeteners that are permitted for use in Canada are the ones included in Health Canada's List of permitted sweeteners. In order to be used, these sweeteners must be added in accordance with the permitted foods, maximum levels of use, maximum level of residue and other conditions outlined in the List of permitted sweeteners.

Sweeteners and sweetening agents are not synonymous terms. Sweetening agents, such as granulated sugar and honey, are regulated in volume 15 of the Canadian Food Compositional Standards (CFCS) document, and must comply with the standards outlined in that volume. This page is not discussing information related to sweetening agents.

Mandatory labelling of sweeteners

Like all food additives, sweeteners must be declared in the list of ingredients of the prepackaged foods which they are present in [B.01.008(1)(b), FDR]. See Order of ingredients for more information.

In addition, several sweeteners and foods containing sweeteners are subject to the following mandatory labelling requirements:

Aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-potassium and/or neotame labelling

The label of a food sweetened with aspartame must include a statement warning individuals with phenylketonuria that the food contains phenylalanine or a statement to indicate that aspartame contains phenylalanine [B.16.016(1), FDR]. The phenylalanine statement must:

be in bold type
appear at the end of the list of ingredients
- in the same language
- on the same line as the last ingredient or on the following line with no intervening material
be on the same continuous surface as the list of ingredients
be clearly differentiated on the label, in the same manner as the list of ingredients [B.16.016(2), FDR]

For more information on the manner of declaring the phenylalanine statement, refer to the section on Legibility and location of the List of ingredients and allergens page.

The following are examples of acceptable phenylalanine statements:

"Persons with phenylketonuria: contains phenylalanine"
"Aspartame contains phenylalanine"

The label of a table-top sweetener that contains aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-potassium or neotame must carry a statement of the sweetness per serving expressed in terms of the amount of sugar required to produce an equivalent degree of sweetness [B.16.019, FDR].

Polydextrose labelling requirements

Polydextrose is a permitted food additive synthesized from dextrose (glucose). The label of a food containing polydextrose must indicate the amount of polydextrose, expressed in grams per serving of stated size [B.16.017, FDR]. The amount of polydextrose must be included in the total amount of carbohydrates declared in the Nutrition Facts table or Supplemented Food Facts table. See Elements within the Nutrition Facts table for more information.

For more information on polydextrose, refer to Health Canada's page on Sugar alcohols and polydextrose.

Sugar alcohols labelling requirements

Sugar alcohols (in other words polyols) provide energy in the form of carbohydrates similarly to sweetening agents (such as white and brown table sugars). They are also known as sugar relatives, and provide fewer calories per gram than typical sweetening agents.

When these sugar alcohols are present in a food, their total content must be declared in the Nutrition Facts table or when added to a supplemented food, in the Supplemented Food Facts table in grams per stated serving size [B.01.402(6), B.29.003(8), FDR]. For more information, see Elements within the Nutrition Facts table and Supplemented food facts table.

The label of a food containing erythritol must carry a statement indicating the amount of erythritol, expressed in grams per serving of stated size unless, the label carries a Nutrition Facts table or Supplemented Food Facts table [B.16.018(1), FDR]. The statement of the amount of erythritol must be grouped together with the statement of the amount of any other sugar alcohols and the amount of polydextrose [B.16.018(2), FDR].

For more information on sugar alcohols, refer to Health Canada's page on Sugar alcohols and polydextrose.

Additional requirements

Additional information about sweeteners

The majority of sweeteners are non-nutritive sweeteners, with a few exceptions (for example sugar alcohols and polydextrose). For more information about sweeteners that provide calories, see Elements within the Nutrition Facts table.

Non-nutritive sweeteners, such as aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-potassium, neotame, stevia, cyclamate and saccharin, do not provide calories on their own. When these sweeteners are added to foods, they may however contain calories from other ingredients or components that are added to the food with them, such as carriers. It is therefore the responsibility of the manufacturer account for this when developing nutrition labels.

Steviol glycosides labelling requirements

There are no additional labelling requirements for steviol glycosides when used as a food additive. The labelling requirements for steviol glycosides are the same as those applicable to all prepackaged products and ingredients. Additional labelling requirements only occur when steviol glycosides are used in combination with other sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-potassium and neotame [B.16.016, B.16.019, FDR].

Saccharin as a food additive

Saccharin and its salts (calcium saccharin, potassium saccharin and sodium saccharin) are part of Health Canada's List of permitted sweeteners. This enables the use of saccharin and/or its salts as sweeteners in: breath fresheners, unstandardized canned fruit, chewing gum, unstandardized frozen desserts, toppings/topping mixes, unstandardized alcoholic liqueurs, unstandardized carbonated non-alcoholic beverages, unstandardized fruit spreads, preoperative beverages and table-top sweeteners. Like all other food additives, when used as permitted, saccharin and/or its salts are required to be shown in the list of ingredients on prepackaged foods. For more details, refer to Health Canada's Notice of modification to the List of permitted sweeteners to enable the use of saccharin, calcium saccharin, potassium saccharin and sodium saccharin as sweeteners in various unstandardized foods.

Monk fruit ingredients

Monk fruit extract is included in Health Canada's List of permitted sweeteners with authorized use in table-top sweeteners^Footnote 1 only. The mandatory labelling requirements applicable are those for all sweeteners.

In contrast, other monk fruit ingredients such as monk fruit juice concentrate are not considered as sweeteners, but are considered as acceptable food ingredients because of their lower mogroside V content. Monk fruit ingredients added to food products following good manufacturing practice must be labelled appropriately. See List of ingredients for details.

Cyclamate as non-food product

Cyclamate is only permitted as non-food product under specific conditions.

As per Part E of the FDR, cyclamate sweeteners are not permitted to be used in foods. These sweeteners are subject to Part E of the FDR, which thereby excludes them from the requirements of Part B of the FDR [E.01.001, FDR].

Cyclamate sweeteners as non-food products are only allowed to be sold for direct consumer use when they meet the following conditions:

no person shall sell cyclamate sweeteners that are not labelled as required by Part E of the FDR [E.01.002, FDR]
no person shall, in advertising a cyclamate sweetener to the general public, make any representation other than with respect to the name, price and quantity of the sweetener [E.01.003, FDR]

The label of cyclamate sweeteners that meet the specifications above must additionally carry:

a list of ingredients [E.01.005(b), FDR]
the quantity of each of the following in the sweetener:
- cyclohexyl sulfamic acid
- a salt of cyclohexyl sulfamic acid
- carbohydrates where present [E.01.005(b), FDR]
the energy value expressed in Calories per teaspoon, drop, tablet or other measure used in the directions for use and per 100 grams or millilitres of the sweetener^Footnote 2 [E.01.005(a), FDR]
the following cautionary statement:
a statement that the sweetener should be used only on the advice of a physician [E.01.004, FDR]

Additional information

For more information about sweeteners, please visit the following links:

Definitions

Cyclamate sweetener: "Cyclamate sweetener" means a cyclohexyl sulfamic acid or, salts thereof, any substance containing cyclohexyl sulfamic acid or salts thereof that is sold as a sweetener [E.01.001(1), FDR].
Non-nutritive sweeteners: "Non-nutritive sweeteners" also called high intensity sweeteners, do not provide calories or influence blood sugar levels. As these compounds are significantly sweeter than table sugar, their energy contribution is negligible. Examples of non-nutritive sweeteners include: cyclamate, saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame potassium, neotame and stevia.
Sugar alcohols: "Sugar alcohols" (also known as polyols) are food additives that are used as sweeteners and texturizing/bulking agents in foods. Examples of sugar alcohols include isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, maltitol syrup, mannitol, sorbitol, sorbitol syrup, xylitol, erythritol and hydrogenated starch hydrolysates.
Sweetener: "Sweetener" means any food additive used to impart a sweet taste to a food [B.01.001(1), FDR]. Examples of food additives that may be used as sweeteners include aspartame, maltitol and sorbitol. For a complete list, refer to Health Canada's List of permitted sweeteners.
Sweetening agent: "Sweetening agent" includes any food for which a standard is set out in volume 15 of the Canadian Food Compositional Standards document but does not include a sweetener [B.01.001(1), FDR].
Table-top sweetener: Table-top sweeteners are considered to be high intensity sweeteners that can be manufactured in liquid, powder, or granular formats and are intended for addition to foods by the end consumer at their own discretion (for example, to impart a sweet taste to coffee or tea intended for personal consumption) and are not meant to be used as an ingredient.

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