The front-of-package labels are part of Canada’s Healthy Eating Strategy, released in October 2016, and are designed to help Canadians make the healthy choice the easy choice. Food labelling regulations regarding nutrition facts and ingredient lists were updated at the end of 2016, and the food industry was given a five-year transition period, ending on December 14, 2021, to update nutrition labels. Front-of-package labelling regulations were influenced by stakeholder input provided during multiple consultations conducted from 2016 through 2018. The new regulations were announced on June 30, 2022.
A diet high in saturated fat, sugar, and/or sodium is associated with increased risks of chronic health conditions including obesity, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. Furthermore, nutrition is also connected to mental health outcomes, including depression and dementia. The latest data from the Canadian Chronic Disease Indicators (CCDI) show that 10 percent of children and almost 25 percent of adults are obese, 13 percent of Canadians have been diagnosed with a mood or anxiety disorder, and 44 percent have been diagnosed with one of the ten most common chronic diseases (heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, arthritis, dementia, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders).
The front-of-package labelling system will help consumers quickly and easily identify foods that could be detrimental to their health. The regulations go into effect on July 20, 2022, but the food industry has until January 1, 2026, to start displaying the new labels.
Pre-packaged food will still require the Nutrition Facts Table to be displayed on the back of food labels. The FOP symbol is considered to be complementary to the Nutrition Facts Table and was introduced by Health Canada to provide consumers with a quick and easy visual cue to help them make informed choices about what they eat. Frequent consumption of saturated fats, sugars and sodium can contribute to increased health risks including heart disease and type 2 diabetes. FOP labelling is intended to help consumers adjust their purchasing patterns thereby lowering their diet-related risk of these diseases.
The FOP symbol must be displayed on most foods that require a Nutrition Facts Table and meet or exceed certain threshold levels, which correspond to a percentage of the daily value (DV) per “reference amount” or “serving size”, whichever is greater, for saturated fats, sugars or sodium. “Reference amounts” represent the amount of food that a person typically eats in one sitting and are used to determine the “serving sizes” to be declared in the Nutrition Facts Table.
For example, general pre-packaged foods that meet or exceed 15% DV of saturated fat, sugars or sodium will need to display the FOP Symbol. Types of food that could be included in this category are deli meats, soups, frozen desserts, and puddings. There is a higher threshold for foods such as frozen lasagna and pizza that are consumed as a main dish. Such foods will be required to display the FOP Symbol if they meet or exceed 30% DV per 200g or more.
The FOP Symbol must be easily seen on the front of the package, and its size will be dictated by the size of the package. For most package shapes, the FOP Symbol will appear on the upper half of the label, and to the right half of the label if is wider than it is tall. It must be in both French and English. A bilingual symbol can be used, as shown above, or a label can display two separate symbols.
To address the rising prevalence in overweight, obesity and diet-related NCD, scholars, advocates and policymakers are increasingly calling for policies to communicate the health risks of consuming “high in” products and to discourage their consumption. Front-of-package labels have emerged as one promising policy to guide and influence consumers to make healthier food choices and purchasing decisions. Many countries in the world have applied different front-of-package designs such as guideline daily amounts (GDA) labels, Nutri-Score labels, and nutrient warning labels.
Pushback
Ground meat, such as beef and pork, could soon require warning labels in Canada due to its high sodium and saturated fat content. It’s part of a new proposal from Health Canada, the government department responsible for national health policy. The organization wants to implement mandatory front-of-package labelling requirements for foods high in sodium, saturated fat, and sugar.
Under the proposal, pre-packaged foods that contain 15 percent of the recommended daily intake of sodium, saturated fat, and/or sugar would need to be clearly labelled as such. It would utilize a symbol that is “simple and intuitive for most Canadians,” Health Canada says in its report, like an exclamation mark or “stop sign.” For pre-packaged meals, the threshold would sit at 30 percent of the daily recommended intake.
Health Canada hopes the labels will help consumers make more informed and healthy dietary choices. This is especially important given diet’s role in disease prevention; the food we eat is closely linked to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, which are all leading causes of death in Canada.
Many food products would be exempt from the policy despite being high in saturated fat, including whole cuts of meat and eggs, as well as whole and two-percent dairy milk. Fruits, vegetables, and vegetable oils like canola and olive would also be given elbow room. Products like ground beef and pork, on the other hand, would require the labels (chiefly for their salt and saturated fat levels).
Sylvain Charlebois, professor in food distribution and food policy at Dalhousie University in Halifax, says that half of the beef consumed in Canada is ground. Speaking to BNN Bloomberg, Charlebois commented: “I actually do feel that ground meat is being discriminated against, generally. This policy appears to be driven by some bureaucratic ideology.”
“Ninety-one percent of Canadians actually eat meat on a regular basis,” they added. “That’s the vast majority of Canadians, so to basically label these products as unhealthy? I don’t think that sends the right signal.”
Tyler Fulton, president of the Manitoba Beef Producers, says the proposal is worrisome for meat producers in the area. Fulton said to CTV News: “That’s concerning for ranchers and farmers across Manitoba and across the country because it really does send mixed messages and we fear it’s going to hurt the demand for our product.” Fulton also spoke to Global News about the issue. “Our concern with this is that it overlooks the benefits that ground beef brings,” they told the outlet.
Ground beef is a source of protein, iron, and vitamin B12. But it is also high in saturated fat, which can raise cholesterol and consequently, the risk of heart disease and stroke. A growing bank of research has found close ties between meat consumption and a slew of other health problems, including liver disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Dan Howe of Animal Justice, the only animal law organization of its kind in Canada, is among the supporters of the proposal. “Industry lobby groups are worried about Health Canada’s new policy and have admitted in a flurry of op-eds and press interviews that if they had to tell the truth about nutrition, fewer people would spend money on animal products,” Howe wrote in a blog post.
“We think that if people knew the truth about Canada’s lack of animal protection laws on farms, the number of people supporting the cruel industry would be even fewer still,” he added. “When it comes to animals, Canada’s meat industry is used to not having to follow the rules. For example, many standard and ‘generally accepted’ farm practices are exempt from provincial animal welfare laws, meaning that practices that would be illegal if done to a dog or cat are completely legal when done to a pig, cow, chicken, or other farmed animal,” he continued. “Farms are also often exempt from environmental laws like Canada’s federal price on carbon, nuisance laws, labour and employment laws, and much more.”
Health Canada said yesterday the front-of-package labels for unhealthy food is a key part of its Healthy Eating Strategy, which “aims to improve the food environment in Canada, make it easier for Canadians to make informed food choices, and lower the risk of diet-related chronic diseases”.
Announcing the launch of the labelling initiative, Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, said: “We want all Canadians to have the information they need to make healthy food choices. In the coming years, the symbol will make it easier for you and your family to make informed choices. This simple, yet effective nutrition symbol will promote healthy eating for all Canadians.” Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, said the move “recognises the nutritional value of certain foods that are either unprocessed or barely processed, such as calcium in dairy products.” She added: “Processors who wish to do so have a few years to review their processes and, in some cases, improve their recipes.”
The policy will not apply to certain foods, such as plain milk and eggs, due to their health value. It will also exclude raw fish and meat, whether whole cut or minced. At one stage it was suggested minced meat packs would need to include the labels, a proposal that faced strong opposition from Canada’s meat industry. Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University, argued manufacturers are likely to reformulate their products rather than see them labelled as unhealthy. “The last thing a food company wants is to see a label on packages telling consumers their product has too much fat, sugar and/or sodium. In five years from now, I seriously doubt we’ll see many of these labels in a grocery store. Products will get healthier,” he said.
Trade group Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada said the 2026 deadline to introduce the labels was “unrealistic”. The organisation tweeted: “Food and beverage manufacturers are already reeling from unprecedented challenges tied to inflation, labour shortages, and Covid-related supply chain disruptions.”
The regulation has seals of approval from the Heart and Stroke Foundation and Diabetes Canada. Mary L’Abbé, a professor with the University of Toronto’s department of nutritional sciences and expert in public health nutrition, said she’s also pleased with the policy. She said a shopper choosing between two spaghetti sauces will now be able to quickly tell if one is considerably healthier than the other and make a choice accordingly. “We know most consumers don’t, in the grocery store, spend the time to turn packages over to compare one nutrition facts table to the other, so it will really help them make those comparisons,” she said. L’Abbé said research shows that after these warnings are added, people are more likely to choose foods lower in sugar, salt and fat.
While it’s too soon to say whether it’s making a difference in levels of diet-related health conditions, she said, modelling suggests that it will if people continue to make these choices. “Some products, people will always consume even if they do have warning labels,” L’Abbé said, giving the example of processed meat, which is a convenient and cheap option for many. “I don’t think people will change all their food habits, but I think many of the categories where foods will have front-of-pack labels, it will be easy to spot the ones that do (have a warning label) and the ones that don’t. And that’s the type of change that has been seen in other countries.”
