Supply Chain Disruptions: CFIA Permits Flexibility in Ingredient Lists
Supply chain disruptions have finally encouraged the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to publish a notice, outlining their allowance for substitutions of different ingredients due to shortages. In Canada, specifically, The Canadian Produce Marketing Association has noted the potential for shortages of fresh produce on the market due to the end of growing seasons, and the struggles with importation; moreover, rumours abound over the possibility of rising milk prices, as well as the increasing cost of pasta due to durum wheat shortages. And with the environmental issues that have plagued the province of British Columbia over the past few weeks, supply chain disruptions could further be exacerbated.
Whether the shortage is the result of natural or economic causes, is foreseeable or unforeseeable, can be recovered in a short period of time or requires a plan for a longer-than-anticipated disruption, the CFIA is willing to allow flexibility in ingredients and ingredient lists, provided that regulated parties adhere to Section B.01.011 of the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) and Section 284 of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR), and mitigate damages to ensure the substitution meets compliance.
The CFIA requires that substitutions be similar in nature, not introduce new claims to the product, and follow all existing labelling requirements. The CFIA also recommends that short-term substitutions be enacted with a plan in case disruption lasts longer than anticipated; meanwhile foreseeable, long-term substitutions (i.e., those that last longer than twelve months) should be enacted with a plan to update all labels and packaging should the original ingredient(s) be lost for good. This places the burden of finding a solution to supply chain disruptions on business entities, which frequently do not control their supply chains. In the long run, this could be problematic as the CFIA might demand answers from business entities, for which it will be tough to provide definitively.
The CFIA has also stated that they will allow the use of an Asterix in an ingredient list to flag possible omissions or substitutions; the ingredient list would need to highlight all possible omissions or substitutions at the end of the list by way of Asterix; for example – Ingredients: Wheat flour, Water, Salt *may contain: Sugar. If the proportions of ingredients could vary, this must also be stated on the label; for example – Ingredients: beef and/or pork.
On the one hand, this flexibility allows regulated parties to adapt to the changing conditions of the natural and economic world without shelling out the cost to re-design and re-print new labels every time an ingredient shortage occurs – especially if it is foreseeable – or, unfortunately, assume a position of non-compliance, and thus deceive consumers. On the other hand, this new permissibility places the burden on business entities to find solutions to supply chain issues within a specified timeframe, despite not controlling most aspects of their individual supply chains.
For more information, please visit the CFIA’s Notice, dated November 9th -- https://inspection.canada.ca/foodlabelrequirements/labelling/20211109/eng/1636387216303/1636387217069. For questions regarding labelling compliance, please feel free to email us at info@gsjameson.com.