Food Composition Standards: CFIA Opens Consultation to Remove Standards from Regulations
Compositional standards for food, prescribed by law and found in the Canadian Food and Drug Regulations (“FDRs”) and Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (“SFCRs”), often require thorough examination by international and national stakeholders for any food product that is imported, exported, or otherwise transported across borders. And it’s no secret that Canadian food standards are some of the strictest in the world, often requiring stakeholders to re-assess their products for compliance on the Canadian market, and/or developing a new common name for their food product because the product does not fit the standard. All of this can be very frustrating for anybody looking to access the Canadian market, thereby limiting innovation.
At GSJ & Co., for example, we frequently assess international dessert products for compliance with Canadian food standards, and often encounter mascarpone cheese coagulated through the use of citric acid. Citric acid, as you may or may not know, is a naturally occurring acid found in many citrus fruits, but is classified as a food additive by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (“CFIA”) and Health Canada. Per the FDRs, mascarpone cheese must be coagulated with bacteria in order to bear the common name, “mascarpone cheese”. This means that many international stakeholders, that manufacture a, otherwise compliant, cheese with citric acid cannot market their cheese as “mascarpone cheese”, and instead must resort to calling their cheese a “cheese product”, or revise the process altogether. This is particularly cumbersome if the food product is already manufactured for sale, as is, in other countries around the world.
Thus, it came as a welcome surprise to see that the CFIA opened a consultation on June 23rd to determine whether food compositional standards should be removed from the FDRs, and to a lesser extent the SFCRs, to add them to a document Incorporated by Reference (“IbR”). Documents IbR exist as part of Regulations without being in the Regulations, thereby making it easier to modify and change them.
CFIA’s consultation also seeks to remove non-essential elements from compositional standards to focus on the essential elements of food. CFIA suggests that non-essential elements could include production elements, such as sweetening agents, or any element that relates to health, safety or nutrition and is governed by Health Canada through a separate process (i.e., fortification requirements or food additives).
CFIA intends to encourage stakeholders to request modifications to compositional standards whenever a need presents itself. This request would be submitted to CFIA, with supporting documentation, and would either show support from similar stakeholders in its application, or would be available for further consultation. CFIA, then, is provided with the power to approve the application, or deny it.
For the procedure on submitting an application to request a modification, click here.
The purpose of placing compositional standards in a document IbR is not to reduce the health or safety of food products, or mislead consumers, but rather to keep pace with the changing landscape of food innovation.
As we mentioned above, we see this flexibility as a welcome approach. Even if product consultations have the potential to expose trade secrets to competitors without a guaranteed favourable result from a modification application, we appreciate the diplomacy in having multiple stakeholders weighing in on the need for revision, to ensure a level playing field.
Our greatest concerns lie with the efficiency of applying to the CFIA for a modification, and the length of time it may take to receive a response, as well as the efficiency in reviewing multiple documents IbR to assess compositional, labelling, and packaging compliance. We hope we are disproven in our concerns, though, as a flexible approach to food standards can only encourage market competitiveness and streamline the process to achieving variety.
We encourage any interested parties to engage with this consultation, as it promises to be imperative for the future of food regulation in Canada. Review the following website, read the discussion paper, and send your feedback to the CFIA.
The consultation closes September 22, 2023.
For assistance with food compositional reviews and/or label and packaging reviews, reach out to us at info@gsjameson.com