Declaration of Food Allergens - Pre-Packaged Foods

Amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations prescribing enhanced labelling requirements for food allergen, gluten sources and sulphites were published in the Canada Gazette, Part II on February 16, 2011.

Until the new regulations come into force on August 4, 2012 the CFIA will continue its current compliance and enforcement activities under the Food and Drugs Act and the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act. This means that during the 18-month coming-into-force period, where undeclared allergens are identified as posing a health risk by Health Canada, the products will continue to be subject to enforcement action by the CFIA. This includes possible product recall.

While not required until the coming into force date, companies may start preparing new labels based on the new regulations at any time over the next 18 months.

The CFIA is again reminding food manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers of their responsibility to ensure that the foods they sell are safe for all consumers, including those with food allergies.

Food Allergens

Most allergic reactions are caused by the following foods and their derivatives:

• Peanuts
• Almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts
• Milk
• Eggs
• (naming) fish, crustaceans, shellfish
• Soy
• Wheat or triticale
• Sesame seeds
• Mustard seeds*
• Sulphite

*The new Regulations coming into force on August 4, 2012 include mustard seeds

Label Requirements Applicable to Pre-Packaged Foods in Respect to Allergens

The Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) requires a complete and accurate list of ingredients and their components on the label of most pre-packaged foods. There are some exemptions to this requirement. For example, certain components of the ingredients used in making sandwiches may be exempt from declaration under the Regulations. However, a pre-packaged food product labelled with a list of ingredients is unsafe for people with food allergies if some of those ingredients or components are priority allergens and are not declared on the label. Failure to declare allergenic components may be contrary to Subsection 5(1) of the Food and Drugs Act and Subsection 7(1) of the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act. These products may therefore be subject to regulatory measures taken by the CFIA, including a product recall.

Allergen Prevention Plans

The CFIA recommends that the food industry develop strategies, such as an allergen prevention plan², to manage the risks associated with priority allergens. The strategy should include a thorough evaluation of manufacturing and ingredient control procedures. In the case of imported pre-packaged food products, it is the importers' responsibility to ensure those products are fully and correctly labelled.

Precautionary Labelling

Despite all possible precautions, the presence of allergenic ingredients in foods cannot always be avoided. In order to assist consumers affected by food allergies, the Canadian government, in consultation with industry and allergy groups, developed a policy on precautionary labelling ("may contain" statements). This policy allows the food industry to voluntarily label products which may inadvertently contain substances capable of causing severe adverse reactions. Precautionary labelling, however, must be truthful and must not be used in lieu of adherence to legal requirements. When an allergen is likely to be present in a product, the use of precautionary labelling is not acceptable and the presence of the allergenic ingredient should be accurately declared on the label. Further information on basic labelling requirements can be found in chapter 2 of the Guide to Food Labelling and Advertising².

¹ A Tool for Managing Allergen Risk in Food Products

² Guide to Food Labelling and Advertising

Originally issued March 23, 2007 (Information Letter To Industry)