As of July 20, 2022, food manufacturers in Canada are required to add a new nutrition symbol on the front of prepackaged products that meet or exceed certain levels of sodium, sugars or saturated fat.
This new black and white symbol includes:
- a magnifying glass;
- text indicating that the product is high in sodium, sugars or saturated fat (or any combination of the three); and
- “Health Canada/Santé Canada” at the bottom
View examples of the nutrition symbol here.
Food manufacturers must adhere to specific rules for the symbol’s:
- size (dependant on package size)
- location (upper half of the label for most package shapes or right half if the label is wider than it is tall)
- language (text in both English and French, either in two separate symbols or both in one symbol)
Prepackaged foods that will be required to include the new symbol on labels include:
- those with 15% or more of the daily value (DV) per reference amount or serving size (whichever is greater) of saturated fat, sugars or sodium
- those with a reference amount of 30g/mL or less that meet or exceed 10% DV of saturated fat, sugars or sodium
- those with a reference amount of 200g or more (170g or more for main dishes intended solely for children 1 to 4 years of age) that meet or exceed 30% DV of saturated fat, sugars or sodium
There are three categories of foods that are exempt. See the full list here.
Although the new labelling requirements are in effect as of July 20, 2022, food manufacturers will have until 2026 to make the necessary changes to their packages.