CANADA Updates to the food labelling and advertising information

Updates made to the food labelling and advertising information / mises a jour apportées à l'information sur l'étiquetage et la publicité

 

There have been several updates made to the food labelling and advertising information.  Please refer to the Updates page at http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/labeti/amende.shtml for detailed information.

 

2012

Item	Nature of Changes	Date
Compliance and Enforcement of Gluten-Free Claims	Posted information on Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) Compliance and Enforcement of Gluten-Free Claims	June 2012
Consultation on the Guidelines for Highlighted Ingredients and Flavours	Posting of the Guidelines for Highlighted Ingredients and Flavours for public comments	June 2012
Origin Claims Information	Consolidated information on Origin Claims and provided additional information on the use of voluntary multiple country of origin statements	May 2012
Country of Origin Labelling Information	To provide information on country of origin labelling requirements, a new webpage on Country of Origin Labellinghas been added	May 2012
"Product of Canada" and "Made in Canada" Labelling Information	Consolidated information on "Product of Canada" and "Made in Canada" Labelling including the Guidelines for "Product of Canada" and "Made in Canada" Claims	May 2012
Labelling of Genetically Engineered Foods in Canada Factsheet	Consolidated the previous two factsheets on the labelling of genetically engineered foods and voluntary labelling of products of genetic engineereing into one factsheet called Labelling of Genetically Engineered Foods in Canada	May 2012
Food Irradiation Information	Consolidated information on Food Irradiation	May 2012
Method of Production Information	Consolidated information on claims and statements related toMethod of Production and provided additional guidance on the use of "Halal" claims	May 2012
Legibility and Location of Labelling Information	Consolidated information on Legibility and Location of Labelling Information and provided additional guidance on the legibility and location requirements for mandatory and voluntary labelling information on food labels	April 2012
Date Markings Information	Consolidated information on Date Markings and provided additional guidance on the date marking requirements for foods including shipping containers and modified atmosphere packaged foods	April 2012
Bilingual Labelling Information	Consolidated information on Bilingual Labelling and provided additional guidance on bilingual labelling of voluntary information and the exemption from bilingual labelling for local foods	April 2012
Results from Web Questionnaire	Posting of the Results from the Web Questionnaire	April 2012
Chapter 6 Guide to Food Labelling and Advertising	Addition of Barley Beta-Glucan Concentrate (partially hydrolysed) BarlivTM Barley Betafiber to Table 6-12	February 2012
Consultation on Wine Labelling	Posting of the Consultation on Wine Labelling for public comments	January 2012

EFSA Refute France's Justification for Ban on GM Maize Variety

In 2008, France banned the the strain MON 810, but this was overturned by a French court in 2011. Citing risks to environmental health, French Agricultural Minister Bruno Le Maire in March 2012 reinstated a ban against this variety of GM maize. 

Following a request of the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) evaluated documentation submitted by France in support of its request for the prohibition of marketing the genetically modified maize MON 810 under Article 34 of Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003. The EFSA GMO Panel notes that some publications referred to by France were already part of the submission package by France for its safeguard clause and emergency measure on maize MON 810 in 2008. Those publications were addressed previously by the EFSA GMO Panel in its 2008 Scientific Opinion on the safeguard clause and emergency measure notified by France on maize MON 810. 

In the remaining documentation provided by France, the EFSA GMO Panel could not identify any new science-based evidence indicating that maize MON 810 cultivation in the EU poses a significant and imminent risk to the human and animal health or the environment. With regard to issues related to management and monitoring of maize MON 810, the EFSA GMO Panel refers to its recent recommendations for management and monitoring measures of maize MON 810. 

In conclusion, the EFSA GMO Panel considers that, based on the documentation submitted by France, there is no specific scientific evidence, in terms of risk to human and animal health or the environment, that would support the notification of an emergency measure under Article 34 of Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 and that would invalidate its previous risk assessments of maize MON 810. The EFSA report is available here.