Food > Meat and Poultry Products > Manual of Procedures > Chapter 7  

Chapter 7 - Packaging and labelling

7.1 Introduction

The purpose of this chapter of the Manual of Procedures is to further explain regulatory requirements in regard to packaging and labelling of edible and inedible meat products prepared in registered establishments or imported. This chapter also deals with labelling requirements of non-meat product food ingredients such as, fillers, seasonings and food additives for use in registered establishments.

For policy on label registration, see 7.5.

For label review by Inspectors, see Annex F.

For non-food ingredients such as cleaning agents, disinfectants, pesticides and other chemicals used in registered establishments, see 4.12.

7.2 Applicable legislation

The following Acts and Regulations are applicable to the packaging and labelling of meat products either prepared in registered establishments or imported:

• The Meat Inspection Act and Regulations.
• The Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act and Regulations.
• The Food and Drugs Act and Regulations.
• The Canada Agricultural Products Act and Regulations made thereunder.

To reduce the volume of this chapter, the information contained in these Acts and Regulations will not be repeated in detail.

7.3 Use of the Meat Inspection Legend

The use of the Meat Inspection Legend is only permitted in connection with edible meat products in a registered establishment. Note that a meat product prepared as an edible meat product for export, that would not qualify as edible in Canada, may be labelled with the Meat Inspection Legend, provided that the container is marked "For Export". Refer to subsection 122(2) of the Meat Inspection Regulations, 1990.

The Meat Inspection Legend shall not be used on inedible meat products or on containers of inedible meat products.

The Meat Inspection Legend may be used:

• as part of a label applied to edible meat products
• for direct application to carcasses, sides, quarters, primal cuts, sub-primal cuts and organs
• for direct application to a natural casing containing a meat product.

7.3.1 Design and size of the Meat Inspection Legend

See Schedule III of the Meat Inspection Regulations, 1990. Also see 7.6.5.

7.4 Types of containers and labels

7.4.1 Types of containers

Basically, we differentiate two types of containers: retail containers and non-retail containers.

• Retail containers:
  Bags
  Casings (natural and artificial)
  Cartons
  Mono-cups
  Folders
  Glass jars
  Pouches
  Cans
  Wraps
  
• Non-retail containers:
  Tanker Trucks
  Combo bins
  Tanks
  Bags, including stockinettes
  Wraps
  Cartons
  Cans

7.4.2 Types of labels

The Packaging, Labelling and Evaluation Unit distinguishes the following types of labels and refers to them under the following codes:

A - Artificial casing
B - Printed bag
BL - Pressure-sensitive label for bag
C - Individual carton and mono-cup lid
CB - Combo bins
D - Stencilled product description, (pail, barrel head, barrel and drum)
DC - Display carton
EC - Edible casing
F - Bacon folder or wallet
G - Paper label for glass jar
HB - Hessian bag
HL - Header label (hanging)
I - Insert label
K - Kemex label
L - Paper label
M - Breast tag; clip for bag or casing
P - Pouch, film, foil or paper
PB - Poultry bag
PL - Placard label for freight car, tank car or truck
PS - Pressure-sensitive label for consumer sized products
RS - Stamp, stencil or pressure-sensitive label for use with shipping container
S - Shipping container
SB - Sleeve printed band
SL - Label for shipping container
SV - Sealed vehicle
T - Lithographed can
W - Wrap, cello, foil or paper
X - Shipping tag
Y - Stockinette
Z - Tag for sausage in natural casing

* Please note:

• Only pressure sensitive labels used for sealing containers of unstamped meat products (see 8.2.1(g) - Chapter 8) must be tamper evident. Tamper evident means that the pressure sensitive label cannot be removed in its entirety or re-used without obvious evidence after it has been applied.
• All other pressure - sensitive labels need not be tamper evident, but must stick securely to the shipping cartons or immediate containers.

7.4.3 Package Design Guidelines For Vexar Netting, Coloured Casings and Bags

(a) General

• Opaque bags, casings or wrappings of any colour are acceptable, including for poultry carcasses.
• Tinted transparent and semi-transparent bags, wrappings or films are permitted under certain conditions (see item (b)).
• Vexar netting, or any simulation thereof, must be of significantly contrasting colour to the product it is covering.

The wrappings shall not be of such colour, design or kind as to be misleading with respect to colour, quality or kind of product to which they are applied. Transparent or semi-transparent wrappings for articles such as sliced bacon or fresh (uncooked) meat food products shall not bear lines or other designs of red or other colour which give a false impression of leanness of the product. Transparent or semi-transparent wrappings, casings or bags for use in packaging cured, cured and smoked, or cured and cooked sausage products, and sliced ready-to-eat meat food products may not bear red designs which would unduly enhance the appearance of the product.

In the case of packages of bacon slices (belly or side), the window area on the package must be large enough to expose at least (66%) of the bacon strip length, as well as the complete width of the bacon strip.

(b) Use of coloured transparent or semi-transparent containers

(i)  prepackaged meat products:

meat products intended to be sold directly to the consumer shall not be packaged in coloured transparent or semi-transparent containers unless:

• a declaration attesting that the container is coloured, appears: (1) on the label in close proximity to the product name (e.g. "Beef sausage in coloured casing"); or (2) on the container printed in a repeated manner.

and

• a cross section of the meat product is visible through a clear colourless film.

N.B. the size of the lettering for the declaration will be a minimum of one-half the size of type of the product name.

(ii)  non-prepackaged meat products:

• this category of meat products refers to those meat products that are not intended to be sold directly to the consumer in their original container but require slicing and cutting by the retailer before being offered for sale. Such products are not required to bear special markings/declaration or to show a clear cut surface. This would include meat products sold to deli outlets, hotels and restaurants. There is no weight restriction for these products.

Coloured transparent or semi-transparent containers that may give a false impression of the true colour of the product will be identified in the "Reference Listing of Accepted Materials and Equipment" (Part C of the Manual of Procedures).

7.5 Request for registration of labels

Clerk - Registration Unit
(Labels, Containers, Recipes and Processing)
Food of Animal Origin Division
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Camelot Court
59 Camelot Drive
Nepean, Ontario K1A OY9

7.5.1 Labels requiring registration by the Registration Unit (Labels, Containers, Recipes and Processing)

(a) From Canadian registered establishments:

(i) all labels intended for immediate containers of prepared edible meat products for domestic sale, except

• meat products exempted under paragraph 3(1)(i) of the Meat Inspection Regulations,
• salted Kosher meat, and
• salted casings; and

(ii) all labels for meat products with a claim in regard to the term "organic".

(b) From foreign establishments authorized to export meat products to Canada:

(i) same as from Canadian registered establishment; and

(ii) all labels intended for immediate containers of non prepared edible meat products intended to be sold directly to consumers at the retail level in Canada.

N.B. Meat products treated with salt and water in accordance with Judaic law. The ingredient listing is not required on the label of these products when the identity of the product reflects the fact that the product has been salted.

7.5.2 Submission of labels for registration

It is strongly recommended that before a label or a sketch of a label is submitted to the Packaging, Labelling and Evaluation Unit for registration, the operator presents the proposed label, together with a completed application form AGR 1478 and recipe, (See annex A) to the Inspector in Charge of the registered establishment. When consulted, the Inspector in Charge should review the label and the recipe and recommend it for registration by initialling form AGR 1478 if, in his opinion, the label is satisfactory. The Inspector in Charge will act as advisor to the operator and his comments should be included on the application form. The preliminary review by the Inspector in Charge is intended as a screening process and also serves to keep the Inspector in Charge informed of the operator's intentions to develop a new product or of a forthcoming label change.

Upon receipt of a proof of registration for a label, the inspector in charge shall forward any objection or comment that he has concerning that label to the Senior Coordinator, Packaging, Labelling and Evaluation with a copy of the correspondence to his Regional Director.

The following number of copies of sketch labels and application forms are required by the Packaging, Labelling and Evaluation Unit: (See also 7.5.6)

All meat products, (except when generically labelled)

3 copies of the label sketch (proof)

5 copies of the application form

The Packaging, Labelling and Evaluation Unit issues a registration number at the time the proof is registered. The operator may then proceed to have the labels printed.

The Inspector in Charge should release the final labels for use, provided they have been prepared as per registration instruction.

Any final label which is not in accordance with the registration shall be submitted to the Packaging, Labelling and Evaluation Unit for decision.

The operator shall submit one photocopy of the proof registration, together with a final printed label to the Packaging, Labelling and Evaluation Unit, for record purposes.

If the final printed label is not submitted to the Packaging, Labelling and Evaluation Unit within a period of 120 days following proof registration, then the label registration lapses automatically.

The operator shall provide the Inspector in Charge with a final label for his file and at this point, the Inspector in Charge should make certain that the operator has, in fact, sent the final label to the Packaging, Labelling and Evaluation Unit.

Copies of the application form are not provided in quantity to operators. An operator will have to reproduce the extra copies.

For convenience, a copy of form CFIA 1478, is attached as Annex A.

7.5.3 Generic Labelling

(a) Detailed Label Application Procedure

(i) 5 copies of the application form CFIA 1478 (Annex A).

(ii) 2 copies of the product formula if applicable, typed on company letterhead or computer printout signed by a company representative.

(iii)  5 copies of form CFIA 2623 (Annex D) identifying the different:

• brand names (if more than one),
• weights,
• company or first dealer's names and addresses,
• refrigeration statement,
• number of portions.

(iv)  For each application 3 copies of the label proof are required for label registration. 1 copy of final label for each label submitted and registered. We also require one final label bearing modifications as indicated on form CFIA 2623, e.g. one label for each brand name.

Operators may obtain one registration number for products having different: brand names net weight storage instructions number of portions company names or first dealers

provided the ingredients and the method of preparation are the same.

Once a registration number is given to a label, it is not necessary to make a new submission for changes in any of the five above-mentioned parameters. It is only necessary for the operator to send an updated label for our files together with a photocopy of application forms indicating the registration as a reference. In all cases, a maximum of 99 entries per registration number will be permitted due to limitations in our present data processing system (i.e., a maximum of 99 brand names, etc.).

Only one type of label per application is allowed (cry-o-vac bag, combo bins, pails, shipping cartons, bacon folders, casing, etc.).

(b) The following need not be submitted for registration:

• meat cut qualifiers not appearing in Meat Lexicon and in accordance with Industry Canada Communique 16;
• medals (silver, bronze, etc.);
• ribbons - red, blue, etc.;
• portion controlled weight ranges;
• client's name in addition to the packer's or first dealer's name and address.

Generic labels must contain all the mandatory information as prescribed in paragraph 94(1)(a) of the Meat Inspection Regulations, 1990. Any changes not covered by (b), should be submitted to the Process and Recipe (Labels) Unit for registration.

7.5.4 Submission for temporary registration of promotional labels

The procedures for the registration of promotional labels have been divided into two groups:

• a promotional label for a meat product on which a change in the mandatory information has been made, bearing a statement such as "new", "improved", "leaner", "fortified", "less fat", "no filler" ... must be submitted to the Process and Recipe (Labels) Unit for registration, as outlined under 7.5; and
• a promotional label which highlights a contest, give-away, refund, "coupon inside" does not have to be submitted for registration. This only applies to a label that has received a registration number and that had no change made to the mandatory information. A sample of such a label, together with a reference to the original registration number, shall be submitted to the Process and Recipe (Labels) Unit, and the Inspector in charge for record purposes only.

Flashes are permitted provided they do not obliterate any of the mandatory information. Depending upon the statement that is highlighted, the same procedures as for (a) and (b) apply.

7.5.5 Submission of foreign labels for registration

The submission and registration procedures for foreign labels, from firms approved for export of meat products to Canada, are basically the same as those described in 7.5.2. However, the following procedures differ:

• form AGR 1419 shall be used for submissions, instead of AGR 1478. A copy of this form is attached to this chapter or Annex B.
• no recommendation from the Inspector-in-Charge is required.
• the Process and Recipe (Labels) Unit deals directly with the firm or the firm's representative.
• the Meat Inspection Authority of a foreign country is responsible to see that labels used for export of meat products to Canada comply with proof registrations received from the Process and Recipe (Labels) Unit.

7.5.6 Submission of product formulation and method of preparation (recipe)

In the case of a prepared meat product, the product formulation and the method of preparation shall be submitted in duplicate on company letterhead, signed and dated by a company official. All modifications and notes added afterwards to these documents will have to be clearly identified. One of the following two methods can be used to indicate that the changes were authorized:

• a company official initials the modifications and signs the document (print name, title and date); or
• the authorized agent of the company initials the changes and signs the document, and the following declaration is printed on the document: "discussed with (name and title of the company official, date)" .

The formulation must be complete and the method of preparation shall be outlined in detail. Total protein and meat product protein percentages shall be provided for standardized meat products for which minimum percentages are prescribed.

If found acceptable, one copy will be kept on file in Ottawa and the other will be stamped with an official stamp (Annex E) and returned to the applicant. The list of ingredients and the method of preparation on that copy are considered as official. When an inspector wishes to confirm a formulation, management must produce the officially stamped copy. (Used on all registration since January 10, 1983.)