Health Canada began a new labelling program in 2003 that requires most foods to bear a standardized nutrition box and allows diet-related health claims for the first time.
(Jeff Chiu/Associated Press)

If you want to sell food in Canada, your products now have to conform to the world's most detailed food labels. Large food manufacturers – those with sales of more than $1 million a year – had until Dec. 12, 2005 to comply with the new rules.

Small manufacturers have until the end of 2007 to comply with the label law.

Health Canada began a new labelling program in 2003 that requires most foods to bear a standardized nutrition box and allows diet-related health claims for the first time.

But products won't be able to trumpet themselves as "low carb" or "no carb." Health Canada says there's no scientific evidence that carbohydrates are a dietary problem.

But trans fats are – and the labels will have to list whether any of the fat in the product is in the form of trans fats.

About 61 per cent of Canadians have tried to cut back on carbohydrates to avoid gaining weight, an Ipsos-Reid survey suggests.

Thousands of carb-reduced products - including lines such as Unilever Canada's Carb Options, Kraft's CarbWell and, in the United States, General Mills' CarbMonitor - have flooded the market as the Atkins diet and similar regimens gained followers.

The new rules would force manufacturers to pull these products from the shelves or relabel them. They may even have to change their names, if they imply that low carbs boost health.

"Statements about the presence or absence of carbohydrates, including the use of brand names and trademarks, are subject to these regulations," Health Canada warns in a letter to the food industry.

The restriction drew fire from Atkins Nutritionals Inc., which says Health Canada ignored scientific research that supports low-carbohydrate diets.

Labels most stringent in world

When the new system was introduced, it was more rigorous than those in the only other countries that have mandatory food labelling, the United States, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

Under the new rules, pre-packaged foods and drinks must bear a Nutrition Facts box listing the calorie count and 13 ingredients deemed important by health professionals, scientists and consumers.

Factbox ingredients

The Nutrition Facts box must include:

• Calories.
• Fat.
• Saturated fats.
• Trans fats.
• Cholesterol.
• Sodium.
• Carbohydrate.
• Fibre.
• Sugar.
• Protein.
• Calcium.
• Iron.
• Vitamin A.
• Vitamin C.

The regulations set a "gold standard" for nutritional labelling, says the national co-ordinator of the Centre for Science in the Public Interest Canada, Bill Jeffery.

"It's the best model out there," Jeffery told CBC News Online. "It gives the most information and Canada was the first country to include trans fat."

Trans fats raise the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or "bad" cholesterol in the body and increase the risk of heart disease.

Under the previous voluntary system, only half of pre-packaged foods in Canada offered any nutritional information, Jeffery said. They could also mislead, extolling, for example, a product's high-fibre content without mentioning it was packed with fat.

More than half of consumers believed an ingredient was not in a food if it wasn't listed on the label, a 1999 National Institute of Nutrition study found.

Serving sizes and units of measurement also varied from one product to another under the old system, confusing consumers.

The new rules, which institute standard measurements in a specific amount of food, make it much easier to compare products.

Labels allow leeway

The rules also allow food manufacturers some flexibility. For instance, if the label says a product contains 10 grams of fat per serving, it could actually contain up to 12 grams of fat and still be considered accurate. Food producers are allowed a variability of up to 20 per cent.

A researcher at the University of Guelph has tested hundreds of products and compared his results to what was reported on the labels. Bruce Holub said he found that up to 15 per cent of the products tested exceeded the 20 per cent variability on the fat content reported.

Holub said he has reported some of the companies to the federal government, but Ottawa is doing little to follow up on the complaints.

"I would hope that we'd have very strict regulations in this country, such that if a product were found to be illegally labelled, those products would have to come off the shelf … within a two- to four-week period. But I'm not sure we have the clout in the system right now to do that."

In 2006, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency received 123 complaints about mislabelled food. Six resulted in fines. The agency says its first course of action is to work with manufacturers to correct any violations.

An official with Food and Consumer Products of Canada — the organization that represents almost all food companies in the country — suggests Holub's estimate of the number of products that are mislabelled sounds too high.

"Industry is there to provide good information," Phyllis Tanaka, the organization's director of food and nutrition policy, told CBC News. "Food manufacturers support the nutrition facts tables. They see this as a really credible way to help consumers make informed choices."

Tanaka adds the industry has spent $260 million to bring food labels up to the standards dictated by the regulations.

Critics clamour for fast-food labels

Yet critics complain the new system ignores what they deem to be the biggest threat - fast food, the largest single source of saturated fats in most Canadian diets.

Under the new rules, producers don't have to disclose nutritional information on individual servings intended to be eaten immediately, such as fast food, or products sold in places where they are prepared and processed, such as in a bakery.

"There's a growing recognition that consumers eat out at restaurants a lot," said Jeffery. "It really leaves a major gap."

The rules also exempt:

• Alcohol.
• Fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Raw meat and poultry (unless they're ground).
• Raw fish and seafood.

That could change under a House of Commons bill that would force fast-food companies and large chain restaurants to list the amounts of calories, trans fats and sodium on their menu items.

The bill, introduced by Liberal MP Tom Wappel, died when the federal election was called in the spring of 2004 but may soon be re-introduced.

Under the 2003 rules, foods can lose the exemption if their labels or ads make a nutrient content or health claim, or if vitamins, minerals or artificial sweeteners such as aspartame have been added.

Diet-related health claims allowed

The new rules let Canadian manufacturers make diet-related health claims backed by scientific evidence.

They must also use specific wording that blocks them from directly linking their product to a health benefit - which rules out claims such as "Eating Brand X will help you reduce your cholesterol levels."

A label can say:

• A diet low in saturated and trans fat reduces risk of heart disease.
• A diet with adequate calcium and vitamin D, along with regular physical activity, reduces the risk of osteoporosis.
• A diet rich in vegetables and fruit reduces risk of some types of cancer.
• A diet low in sodium and high in potassium reduces risk of high blood pressure.

As well, chewing gum, hard candy and breath-freshening products can claim prevention of tooth decay/cavities, but cannot use the words "tooth friendly."

Products can only make ingredient claims such as "fat-free" under certain restrictions:

• "Fat free" is allowed only if the product also says "low fat" or "low in fat" and contains less than 0.5 grams of fat per 100 grams in a standard food sample.
• "Light" foods must be "reduced in fat" or "reduced in calories," containing for example at least 25 per cent fewer calories than the standard sample.
• "Cholesterol free" and "no cholesterol" must have less than two milligrams of cholesterol in the standard sample.
• "High in fibre" indicates at least four grams of dietary fibre in the standard sample.
• Nutrient claims in foods for children under age 2 can only say: "source of protein," "excellent source of protein," "more protein," "no salt added," and "no added sugar."

Changes could save $5 billion in health costs

Ottawa introduced the new food labels so Canadians could make informed food choices, compare products more easily, assess the nutritional value and better manage special diets.

Health Canada projects that better nutritional labelling could save the country as much as $5 billion over 20 years, if dietary improvements reduce the costs of treating diabetes, cancer, heart disease and other illnesses and boost productivity.

Many health and consumer groups, such as the Canadian Cancer Society and the Heart and Stroke Foundation, applauded the move.

The government estimated it would cost the industry between $260 million to $400 million to introduce the Nutrition Facts box. Half of food producers predicted in a federal survey that the new rules would cause a slight jump in food prices.

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