 As of July 26, 2008 Food and Drug Regulations now require that the following foods be declared on food labels whenever they, or their protein derivatives, are added to prepackaged foods having a list of ingredients, whether they are added as ingredients, or as components of ingredients.
- Food allergens, meaning any protein that is derived from any of the following foods:
almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios or walnuts; peanuts; sesame seeds; wheat, kamut, spelt or triticale; eggs; milk; soybeans;
crustaceans; shellfish; or fish.
- The gluten source when the food contains any gluten protein from the grain of any of the following cereals: barley, oats, rye, triticale or wheat, including kamut or spelt.
- Sulphites, when either directly added to a food or when the total amount of sulphites present in the food is 10 parts per million or more.
The proposed regulations also require that the list of ingredients identify the specific sources of hydrolysed plant proteins, starches and modified starches, and lecithins.
Manufacturers will have to declare food allergens and gluten sources by name either in the list of ingredients or at the end of the list of ingredients in a statement called “Allergy and Intolerance Information - Contains: …’’. It will be mandatory to use this statement to declare added sulphites when the concentration in the final product is equal or higher than 10 ppm. When the statement: “Allergy and Intolerance Information - Contains: ...”, is used, it will also need to list the food allergen, gluten sources and added sulphites (at 10 ppm and above) in the food, whether allergens and gluten sources have already been declared in the ingredients list or not.
Once the final regulations are published in the Canada Gazette Part II, manufacturers and importers will have one year to adopt the new labelling changes.
For further details, visit www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/label-etiquet/allergen/index-eng.php or www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/labeti/allerg/allergee.shtml. |
