COVID-19 Food labelling support measures

The Government of Canada is working to respond to challenges raised by the food industry as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic while continuing to ensure that Canadians have access to safe and nutritious food.

Update on the 2016 nutrition labelling regulations

As part of the Healthy Eating Strategy, amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations related to nutrition labelling were published on December 14, 2016. These amendments will improve the nutrition facts table and list of ingredients to make them easier to understand thereby helping Canadians make informed choices. The food industry was given a 5-year transition period to make the changes. The transition period is currently set to end on December 14, 2021.

Changes to nutrition labelling regulations compliance

Due to challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the food industry has asked for more time to meet the new requirements. To help the food industry manage these challenges, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will focus its efforts on education and compliance promotion for the first year, until December 14, 2022. Between December 15, 2022, and December 14, 2023, CFIA will verify compliance and apply enforcement discretion in cases where non-compliant companies have detailed plans showing how they intend to meet the new requirements at the earliest possible time. CFIA guidance will provide further information.

Moving forward, Health Canada and the CFIA, with the support of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, will establish a predictable cycle to align future food label changes. This commitment was included in the government's Agri-food and Aquaculture Roadmap (June 2019). As proposed in this new policy, the first compliance date for future changes to food labelling regulations would be January 1, 2026. This consultation is open for 60 days, from February 2 to April 3, 2021.

Food labelling and packaging requirements

The CFIA is temporarily exercising enforcement flexibility to non-food safety labelling and packaging requirements for shell eggs.

This enforcement flexibility helps to:

support the economy
alleviate supply disruptions in Canadian grocery stores
avoid food waste

Safe Food for Canadians Regulations requirements

In July 2020, the CFIA published a reminder on Safe Food for Canadians Regulations requirements for the manufactured food sector.

Businesses are still expected to meet the requirements of the:

Food and Drugs Act
Food and Drug Regulations
other Safe Food for Canadians Regulations requirements that were applicable prior to July 15, 2020, including those related to:
- exports
- labelling
- packaging
- food safety

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Date modified:: 2023-03-27

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