Modernizing Canada's food regulations

The Food Regulatory Innovation Agenda

The Food Regulatory Innovation Agenda consists of three pillars of activity that will help modernize our food regulations. It aims to:

address issues that affect innovation and growth in the food sector
improve our ability to anticipate and respond to regulatory needs

Why we’re updating Canada’s food regulations

At their core, Canada’s food regulations ensure we have one of the safest food supplies in the world. This won’t change.

We‘re always looking ahead to understand any changes or emerging trends in the food sector that may affect how or what we regulate. Our food regulations need to keep pace with changes driven by:

an increasingly complex global food system
shifting consumer demands
environmental changes
advances in our understanding of science and technology

For example, we must prepare for:

emerging and new microbiological threats (such as bacteria, viruses, antimicrobial resistance)
chemical contaminants (such as lead in infant formula, arsenic in rice, micro-plastics in food)
impacts of climate change (such as bio-toxins in marine animals, increase in toxic algae blooms)
nutritional safety challenges from innovative ingredients (such as insects, plant-based proteins)
new food manufacturing techniques such as lab grown meat
new food additives and packaging materials
non-traditional ingredients in food

Our agenda: Three pillars

The agenda addresses challenges that our stakeholders have identified over the years, most recently through the Agri-food Economic Strategy Table and Regulatory Review consultations. Our commitments are outlined in the Agri-food and Aquaculture Sector Regulatory Review Roadmap. We’ll collaborate on this work with our federal partners, including the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Pillar One: Creating modern and agile food regulations

Projects under this pillar focus on ensuring our rules and regulations can be easily updated with the latest advances in science and technology. They will be able to accommodate consumer trends and preferences while maintaining the health and safety of Canadians.

These projects will address the following issues with the current regulations:

outdated methods of analysis and microbiological criteria
limited use of expertise, information and findings from other regulators in countries with mature food safety systems
uncoordinated patchwork of rules that can be hard to understand and follow

Pillar One projects

Ensure a better response to emerging science
- the aim is to make it easier to update microbiological safety criteria for foods, and use methods of analysis that ensure compliance with food safety and quality requirements
Explore the use of foreign reviews and joint risk assessments
- the aim is to bring safe, innovative food products, such as infant formula, to market more quickly
Review and re-design our food regulations
- the aim is to make it easier to follow, use and amend the regulations under the Food and Drugs Act (FDA)

Pillar Two: Introducing new pathways for innovative food

Projects under this pillar focus on ways to bring safe, nutritious, and innovative food products to market that current regulations do not allow.

Pillar Two projects will address the following issues with the current regulations:

they limit the sale of some foods with added vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and bioactives
they limit products that meet the nutrition needs of pre-term infants
they prevent research and innovation in Canada for food for a special dietary purpose

Pillar Two projects

Introduce new regulations for supplemented foods
- to permit the sale of safe foods that contain added vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbal or bioactive ingredients
Develop regulatory pathway for human milk fortifiers
- to allow safe new products to improve the health of vulnerable populations (for example, pre-term infants or infants with specific health conditions)
Permit clinical trials for food for a special dietary purpose
- to enable the sector to generate evidence showing these products are safe and nutritionally adequate

Pillar Three: A better way of communicating with Canadians

Projects under this pillar focus on creating a regulatory environment that is clear, predictable, efficient and transparent. We will do this by improving the way we communicate with Canadians and industry about our rules and processes.

These projects will address the following issues with the current regulations:

lack of predictability about labelling changes
lack of clarity about novel food regulations for plant breeding innovators
lack of clarity about how we apply key rules that state when food cannot be sold (Section 4 of the FDA)

Pillar Three projects

Improve guidance for plant breeders
- to encourage new developments in the plant breeding sector
Formalize a joint food labelling coordination strategy
- to provide greater predictability and transparency for industry with respect to food labelling changes
Provide interpretation of Section 4 of the FDA
- to make clear how the Government applies and uses these foundational food safety rules

Who will benefit from regulatory changes

Canadians will have:
- access to a broader range of foods with new and innovative ingredients that may improve their health
- access to foods targeted to specific vulnerable populations
Industry will have:
- a regulatory framework that encourages growth and innovation
- requirements that are aligned with international counterparts, where appropriate
- clarity and predictability in regulatory requirements
Health stakeholders will have:
- a regulatory system that promotes food safety, innovation, and economic growth that also maintains the integrity of our high scientific standards

How you can get involved

We will consult with Canadians about modernizing our food regulations throughout 2021 and 2022. If you are interested in participating, please sign up to Health Canada’s stakeholder registry and visit our health-related consultations page.

Contact Us

Karen McIntyre
Director General
Food Directorate
Health Products and Food Branch
E-mail: hc.food-aliment.sc@canada.ca

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Date modified:: 2022-02-23

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