Canadian Food Inspection Agency - Information Letter - Carbohydrate Claims on Foods Sold in Canada

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Food > Labelling > Information Letters

INFORMATION LETTER: Carbohydrate Claims on Foods Sold in Canada

Background

Due to the recent interest in a number of reduced carbohydrate diets, a variety of carbohydrate claims and statements are appearing on foods sold in Canada. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has published this information letter to remind the Canadian food industry (including importers, distributors, retailers and restauranteurs) of the current requirements for carbohydrate related claims under the former nutrition labelling regulations (former Regulations) and the new nutrition labelling regulations (new Regulations), which include the requirements for nutrient content claims and diet-related health claims.

The information contained in this letter refers to claims and statements made on food labels and in any type of advertising material, including broadcast, print, point-of-sale, and the internet.

On January 1, 2003, amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) were published making nutrition labelling mandatory on most prepackaged foods. Industry has until December 12, 2005 to bring their food labels and advertisements into compliance with these new requirements. Smaller companies, those with revenues from sales of food in Canada of less than $1 million between December 12, 2001 and December 11, 2002, have until December 12, 2007 to bring their labels into compliance.

During the transition period, food labels and advertisements may comply with either the former Regulations or the new Regulations, but may not use a combination of the two systems. The use of a Nutrition Facts table on a label with a claim under the former Regulations is not permitted.

Note that the labelling provisions under the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations, including those for nutrition labelling and nutrient content claims, apply to all foods sold in Canada. This includes food, beverages, and alcoholic beverages, such as beer.

1. Compliance with the Former Regulations

During the transition period and where the former Regulations are being relied upon, foods for special dietary use are permitted to use Carbohydrate-reduced claims (see B.24.004, FDR). In order to make this claim, a food must meet specific criteria, as follows:

(a)	Prior to carbohydrate reduction, the food must obtain 25% or more of its Calories from its carbohydrate content;
(b)	When ready to serve,
	(i)	there must be a reduction of at least 50% of the available carbohydrate normally found in the product when not carbohydrate reduced, and
	(ii)	no more Calories are provided than if it were not carbohydrate reduced.

The label must carry the statement "carbohydrate reduced" in close proximity to and of the same type size as the common name. A core nutrition list (energy in Calories and kJ per serving and the fat, protein and carbohydrate values in grams per serving) must appear on the label. Both the advertisement and the label for the food must state that the food is recommended for "carbohydrate-reduced diets" (refer to B.24.009 in the FDR).

Advertising a food as carbohydrate-reduced or as containing less carbohydrate than another food triggers these requirements.

Guidelines set out in section 6.2.4.5 of the former Guide to Food Labelling and Advertising (GFLA) recognize the use of a "low carbohydrate" claim and "source of complex carbohydrate" claim under the following conditions:

		Low carbohydrate foods must have 10% or less of available carbohydrates and 2 g or less of available carbohydrates per serving.
		Foods with a Source of / Contains complex carbohydrate claims must contain 10 g or more of starch per serving.

Quantitative statements such as "8 g of carbohydrates per 30 g slice" are also permitted.

Further information on requirements for the nutrient content claims under the former Regulations can be found in Chapter VI of the GFLA on the CFIA web site: www.inspection.gc.ca/english/bureau/labeti/guide/6-tablee.shtml. The chapter relevant to the former Regulations will be removed from the CFIA web site at the end of the longer transition period, for small manufacturers, on December 12, 2007.

2. Compliance with the New Regulations

The new Regulations have restricted the list of nutrient content claims that may be made on foods. Carbohydrate claims, including "low carbohydrate", "reduced carbohydrates", "source of carbohydrates" are not included in the list under the regulations and are therefore not permitted. A limited number of claims may be made for the presence or absence of sugars and for the level of fibre contained in a food. These can be found in the table following section B.01.513, FDR. Section B.01.502, FDR, further prohibits other express or implied representations about the amount of a nutrient in a food, unless specifically provided for. This means that other statements about the presence or absence of carbohydrates, including the use of brand names and trade-marks, are subject to these regulations.

Also note that section B.01.301, FDR, does permit quantitative statements about the amount of a nutrient in a food under specified conditions. For carbohydrates, this may be expressed as the number of grams per serving of stated size or as a percentage (%) of the Daily Value (DV) per serving of stated size. No word sets can be used around this type of statement. An acceptable example would be:

		"8 g of carbohydrate per 30 g serving"
		"10% of the Daily Value for carbohydrate per 30 g serving"

Further information on the requirements for nutrient content claims under the new Regulations can be found in Chapter 7 of the 2003 Guide to Food Labelling and Advertising (2003 Guide) on the CFIA web site: www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/labeti/guide/toce.shtml

3. Foods Regulated Under Either the Former or the New Regulations

	i)	Abbreviation "Carb" Due to the proliferation of the term "carb" in the marketplace, CFIA will not object to the use of the term "carb" as an abbreviation for "carbohydrate" when used in the context of nutrient content claims or as part of a quantitative statement. However, the CFIA will object to the abbreviation "carb" in the nutrition information table (former Regulations) or in the new Nutrition Facts table (new Regulations).
	ii)	Brand Names and Trade-marks Brand names and trade-marks used on food labels and advertisements are subject to the provisions of the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations (FDAR). Thus any wording used in brand names and trade-marks is also required to comply with all applicable provisions in the FDAR. This means that the use of many brand names and trade-marks regarding carbohydrates are not permitted under the new Regulations.
	iii)	"Net Carbohydrate" and "Effective Carbohydrate" Statements The following terms, "net carbohydrate", "net impact carbohydrate", "net effective carbohydrate", "effective carbohydrate", and "digestible carbs" are not acceptable due to lack of scientific consensus on their definition and their potential to mislead consumers. Additionally, the new Regulations prohibit claims concerning the action or effects of nutrients, including carbohydrate, unless specifically provided for (B.01.311, FDR).
	iv)	Glycemic Index Statements In the absence of a defined method for determining the glycemic index of each food, statements like "Low glycemic index", "non-glycemic", and "Glycemic Index = 10" are not acceptable. Similarly, claims such as "rapid absorption", "does not raise blood sugar" and other related claims are not acceptable as these are considered to be drug claims (see Section 1, Food and Drugs Act).
	v)	Foods Represented as Part of a Weight Reduction Diet Under both the former and the new Regulations, statements or claims, including brand names and trade-marks, that imply that a food is for weight reduction are limited to certain foods. Manufacturers must ensure that their foods meet the criteria set out in subsection B.24.003(3), FDR which states: No person shall label, package, sell or advertise a food in a manner likely to create an impression that a food is for use in a weight reduction diet unless that food is: (a) a meal replacement that meets the compositional requirements contained in B.24.200; (b) a prepackaged meal; (c) a food sold by a weight reduction clinic to clients of the clinic for use in a weight reduction program supervised by staff of the clinic; or (d) a food represented for use in a very low energy diet that meets the compositional requirements contained in section B.24.303 Foods represented as being for a weight reduction diet that do not meet at least one of the above conditions would be considered in contravention of the FDR.

Compliance with Canadian Regulations

The CFIA reminds all food manufacturers of their responsibility to comply with existing Canadian regulations. Manufacturers with food labels developed under the former regulations are advised to review the requirements of the new regulations in anticipation of the end of the applicable transition period. More information, including the text of the FDR and the 2003 Guide, as well as Questions and Answers and the Nutrition Labelling Compliance Test, can be found on the Nutrition Resource Page on the CFIA web site at www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/labeti/nutrition-pagee.shtml

Requests for Amendments to the Regulations

While the CFIA is responsible for enforcing the nutrition labelling regulations, Health Canada is responsible for setting nutrition related policy and regulations. Submissions for requests for regulatory amendments should be addressed to:

Nutrition Evaluation Division,
Food Directorate,
Health Products and Food Branch,
Health Canada,
3rd Floor Frederick G. Banting Building,
Tunney's Pasture, A.L. 2203A,
Ottawa, ON, K1A 0L2.

The submission should include the suggested claim along with compositional and labelling criteria, as well as an appropriate scientific rationale taking into consideration the latest recommendations of the U.S. Institute of Medicine (www.iom.edu).

Thank you for your continued cooperation.

Sincerely,

Greg Orriss
Director
Bureau of Food Safety and Consumer Protection

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