Changes to information on sugars

Important notice: The information on this web page is under review.

We've made improvements to the sugars information on food labels based on feedback from consumers and stakeholders. Learn about these changes in the nutrition facts table and the list of ingredients.

On this page

Sugars in the nutrition facts table

The daily value for sugars is 100 g. A % daily value has been included for total sugars to help you:

  • compare the sugars content of different foods
  • identify sugary foods that should be limited, such as those with a sugars daily value of 15% or more

Figure 1. Sugars information

Text Description below

Figure 1 - Text description

Shown here are two images of the Nutrition Facts table. The one on the left is the original Nutrition Facts table. The one on the right is the new Nutrition Facts table. There is explanatory text outside of the new Nutrition Facts table, on the right side, with arrows pointing to the new changes to sugars information within the table.

Following is a description of the original Nutrition Facts table. Left justified at the top of the table is the heading Nutrition Facts and stacked below it is the heading Valeur nutritive. Both are in bold. The next line is Per 250 mL, forward slash, par 250 mL. There is a thick rule below the serving size information that spans the width of the table.

Left justified on the next line is the subheading Amount, in bold and right justified on the same line is the subheading percent symbol Daily Value, in bold. Stacked directly below the subheading "Amount" is Teneur, in bold. Right justified on the same line is percent symbol valeur quotidienne also in bold. There is a thick rule below the subheadings that spans the width of the table. Note: this rule is not as thick as the one below the serving size information.

The next line is Calories, forward slash, Calories, in bold, followed by 110. There is a thin rule under the Calories information that spans the width of the table. Left justified on the next line is Fat, forward slash, Lipides, in bold, followed by 0 and a lowercase g. Right justified on the same line is the number 0 followed by a percent symbol. There is a thin rule below the fat information that spans the width of the table.

Indented on the next line is Saturated, forward slash, saturés followed by 0 and a lower case g. Indented on the next line is a plus symbol followed by Trans, forward slash, trans followed by 0 and a lowercase g. Right justified and vertically centered against the saturated and trans information on the left is 0 followed by a percent symbol. There is a thin rule below the trans information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Cholesterol, forward slash, Cholestérol, in bold, followed by 0 and mg in lowercase. There is a thin rule under the cholesterol information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Sodium, forward slash, Sodium in bold followed by 0 and mg in lowercase. Right justified on the same line is 0 followed by a percent symbol. There is a thin rule under the sodium information that spans the width of the table. The next line is Carbohydrate, forward slash, Glucides, in bold, followed by 26 and a lowercase g. Right justified on the same line is 9 followed by a percent symbol.  There is a thin rule under the carbohydrate information that spans the width of the table.

Indented on the next line is Fibre, forward slash, Fibres, followed by 0 and a lowercase g.  Right justified on the same line is 0 followed by a percent symbol. There is a thin rule under the fibre information that spans the width of the table. Indented on the next line is Sugars, forward slash, Sucres, followed by 22 and a lowercase g. There is a thin rule under the sugars information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Protein, forward slash, Protéines, in bold, followed by 2 and a lowercase g. There is a thick rule under the protein information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Vitamin A, forward slash, Vitamine A. Right justified on the same line is 0 followed by a percent symbol. There is a thin rule under the vitamin A information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Vitamin C, forward slash, Vitamine C. Right justified on the same line is 120 followed by a percent symbol. There is a thin rule under the vitamin C information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Calcium, forward slash, Calcium. Right justified on the same line is 2 followed by a percent symbol.  There is a thin rule under the calcium information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Iron, forward slash, Fer. Right justified on the same line is 0 followed by a percent symbol. This is the end of the original Nutrition Facts table description.

Next is a description of the new Nutrition Facts table, which is pictured beside the original Nutrition Facts table.

Left justified at the top of the table is the heading Nutrition Facts and stacked below it is the heading Valeur nutritive. Both are in bold. The next line is Per 1 cup open parenthesis 250 mL close parenthesis. The next line is pour 1 tasse open parenthesis 250 mL close parenthesis. There is a thin rule below pour 1 tasse open parenthesis 250 mL close parenthesis that spans the width of the table. The next line is Calories in bold followed by 110, also in bold. Right justified on the same line is the subheading percent symbol Daily Value in bold. Stacked under this is percent symbol valeur quotidienne also in bold. Both Percent Daily Value and percent valeur quotidienne are followed by an asterisk that refers to a footnote at the bottom of the Nutrition Facts table. There is a thick rule under the Calories information that ends after the number 110.  It does not span the width of the table.

Left justified on the next line is Fat, forward slash, Lipides, in bold, followed by 0 and a lowercase g. Right justified on the same line is the number zero followed by a percent symbol. Indented on the next line is Saturated, forward slash, saturés followed by 0 and a lower case g. Indented on the next line is a plus symbol followed by Trans, forward slash, trans followed by 0 and a lowercase g. Right justified and vertically centered against the saturated and trans information on the left is 0 followed by a percent symbol. There is a thin rule below the trans information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Carbohydrate, forward slash, Glucides, in bold, followed by 26 and a lowercase g. Indented on the next line is Fibre, forward slash, Fibres, followed by 0 and a lowercase g. Right justified on the same line is a placeholder for percent Daily Value of Fibre followed by 0 and a percent symbol. Indented on the next line is Sugars, forward slash, Sucres, followed by 22 and a lowercase g. Right justified on the same line is the number 22 followed by a percent symbol. There is a thin rule under the sugars information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Protein, forward slash, Protéines, in bold, followed by 2 and a lowercase g. There is a thin rule under the protein information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Cholesterol, forward slash, Cholestérol, in bold, followed by 0 and mg in lowercase. There is a thin rule under the cholesterol information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Sodium, in bold, followed by 0 and mg in lowercase. Right justified on the same line is 0 followed by a percent symbol. There is a thick rule under the sodium information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Potassium followed by 450 and mg in lowercase. Right justified on the same line is 10 followed by a percent symbol. There is a thin rule under the potassium information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Calcium followed by 30 and mg in lowercase. Right justified on the same line is 2 followed by a percent symbol. There is a thin rule below the calcium information that spans the width of the table.

The next line is Iron, forward slash, Fer followed by 0 and mg in lowercase. Right justified on the same line is 0 followed by a percent symbol. There is a thick rule under the iron information that spans the width of the Nutrition Facts table. The next two lines is the percent Daily Value footnote that was referred to at the beginning of the table description. The footnote starts with an asterisk followed by the statement: 5 percent symbol or less is a little,15 percent symbol or more is a lot and on the second line is an asterisk followed by  the statement: 5 percent symbol ou moins c’est peu , 15 percent symbol ou plus c’est beaucoup. The terms ‘a little’, ‘a lot’, ‘peu’, and ‘beaucoup’ are in bold. This is the end of the new Nutrition Facts table.

There is text shown outside of the table to the right. First, there is an arrow pointing to the sugars line which is surrounded by a red box within the table.  The text reads: New percent symbol Daily Value for total sugars. At the bottom right, there is an arrow pointing to the percent Daily Value footnote which is surrounded by a red box within the table. The text reads: New footnote to help interpret the percent symbol Daily Value. This is the end of the description for this image.

The following table provides examples of the sugars % daily value for some common food items.

Sugars % daily value for some common food items
Less than 15% daily value of sugars More than 15% daily value of sugars
Milk (13%) Chocolate milk (26%)
Plain yogurt (12%) Flavoured yogurt (31%)
Canned fruit in water (10%) Canned fruit in light syrup (21%)
Unsweetened frozen fruit (6%) Fruit juice (25%)
Unsweetened oat cereal (1%) Frosted oat cereal (18%)
Mineral water (0%) Soft drink (39%)

Sugars in the list of ingredients

Sugars-based ingredients have been grouped in brackets in descending order by weight after the name ‘sugars’ to help you:

  • see that sugars have been added to the food
  • quickly find the sources of sugars added to your food
  • understand how much sugars are added to the food compared to other ingredients

Grouping of sugars-based ingredients is not required when the final product contains less than 0.5 grams of sugars per serving. See notice to stakeholders for more information on this change.

Sugars can include:

  • white sugar, beet sugar, raw sugar or brown sugar
  • agave syrup, honey, maple syrup, barley malt extract or fancy molasses
  • fructose, glucose, glucose-fructose (also known as high fructose corn syrup), maltose, sucrose or dextrose
  • fruit juice concentrates and purée concentrates that are added to replace sugars in foods

In the following example, the new list of ingredients on the right shows more clearly that there's more:

  • fancy molasses by weight than brown sugar or sugar
  • sugars in the food by weight than any other ingredient

Figure 2. List of ingredients: sugars

Text Description below

Figure 2 - Text description

There are two ingredient lists shown in the image. On the left is an example of the original list of ingredients. On the right is the new format for the list of ingredients. The sugars sources are circled in red in each list.

The ingredient list on the left is contained within a grey box outlined by a black rule. All of the text within the box is black and in capital letters. A comma separates each ingredient in the list. There are 4 lines of text that run horizontally within the box.

The first line starts with the word ingredients, followed by a colon. This is followed on the same line by the words flour, followed by comma, followed by fancy molasses, followed by comma, followed by vegetable oil. The next line starts with the word shortening followed by comma, followed by brown sugar, followed by comma followed by liquid whole egg, followed by comma, followed by sugar. The next line starts with the word salt, followed by a comma, followed by sodium bicarbonate, followed by comma, followed by spices, followed by comma, followed by colour.

The last line in the box starts with the word Contains, followed by a colon, followed by the word wheat, followed by comma, followed by egg.

The terms fancy molasses, brown sugar, and sugar are surrounded by a red box in this list of ingredients.

The ingredient list on the right is contained within a white box outlined by a black rule. All text inside the box is black with the first letter of each ingredient capitalized. A bullet separates each ingredient in the list. There are 3 lines of text that run horizontally within the box. The first line starts with the word Ingredients, in bold, followed by a colon.

This is followed on the same line by Sugars, open parentheses, fancy molasses followed by comma, followed by brown sugar, followed by comma, followed by sugar, close parentheses. The parenthesis is followed by a bullet, followed by Flour, followed by a bullet, followed by Vegetable oil.

The next line starts with shortening followed by a bullet, followed by Liquid whole egg, followed by a bullet, followed by Salt, followed by a bullet, followed by Sodium bicarbonate, followed by a bullet, followed by Spices, followed by a bullet, followed by Allura red. The last line in the box starts with the word Contains, in bold, followed by a colon. This is followed on the same line by the word Wheat, followed by a bullet, followed by Egg. The "sugars, open parentheses, fancy molasses, followed by comma, followed by brown sugar, followed by comma, followed by sugar, close parentheses" text is surrounded by a red box.

Related information

Page details

Date modified: