4. Labeling Requirements

2 Mins to read

Share
Dark
Light

Article summary

Did you find this summary helpful?

Thank you for your feedback

General Foods
Canada

This section provides information on labeling requirements and the label approval process.

4.1 Mandatory Labeling Parameters

4.2 Languages

4.3 Mandatory Information on Stickers

4.4 Product Legal Name

N/A

4.5 Product-specific Labeling Statements

Refer to Section 4.5 of specific product Guidebooks for product-specific requirements.

4.6 Authority Approval

4.7 Additional Notes on Labeling

Regulatory overview of country of origin requirements for label declaration

In Canada, the main law regulating food safety standards and practices is the Safe Food for Canadians Act (SFCA) [1]. The Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) [2] effectively consolidates 14 sets of existing food regulations into a single set of regulations to implement the SFCA.

According to the SFCR Part 11 on Labeling, all prepackaged food products sold in Canada must be labeled with the name and principal place of business of the company responsible for the product, such as the importer or manufacturer.

Figure 1a. Excerpt from SCFR Part 11-Labelling, Division 2-Requirements applicable to prepackaged food, Subdivision D-information, Paragraph 222 - 223 [2]

Figure 1b. Excerpt from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) webpage on Food Labels [3]

While the country of origin declaration is stated above as one of the options to declare the name and principal place of the responsible business (see Figure 1b), it shall be noted that the Canadian regulations also have specific product-labeling requirements, of which the following imported prepackaged products shall be labeled with the country of origin using words such as “Product of [name of the country of origin]”:

Figure 2. Excerpt from CFIA webpage on Food Labeling Requirements checklist [4]

The requirement for a country of origin statement currently does not apply when foods originate from a contested territory that is not part of a country recognized by Canada. The definition of a recognized foreign state is given in Figure 3 below, while the definition of a contested territory is: "an area outside of Canada that is subject to competing claims of control by third parties" [5].

Figure 3. Excerpt from SCFR Part 1-Interpretation for country of origin which the SCFR refers to as “foreign state”.

It is worth mentioning that CFIA recently launched a public consultation on the origin labeling of imported foods from a contested territory, the consultation is currently running until 10 Oct 2023.

Labeling of country of origin is only mandatory for a limited number of product categories and does not apply to contested territories.

Conclusion

In Canada, unless mandated for specific food items (see Figure 2 above), it is not mandatory to declare the country of origin on the product label.