Food Law
We assist manufacturers, importers and distributors of food products in navigating the complex regulatory landscape governing the marketing of food products in Canada.
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (the "CFIA") are the federal government bodies that carry joint responsibility for food labelling policies in Canada under the Food and Drugs Act. Health Canada is responsible for food labelling policies affecting health and safety matters, such as nutritional content, allergens, and special dietary needs. The CFIA is responsible for the development of non-health and safety food labelling regulation and policies. We regularly deal with officials of both Health Canada and the CFIA.
We provide opinions and advice on the full range of compliance issues involving advertising, labelling, the use of food additives, and standards. We frequently review product labels for compliance with federal and provincial legislation.
Some of the applicable legislation which we regularly consult includes the federal Food and Drugs Act and Food and Drug Regulations, the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, the Canada Agricultural Products Act, the Processed Products Regulations and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Regulations. We also deal with Quebec legislation, such as the Dairy Products and Substitutes Act, the Dairy Product Regulations, the Regulation respecting the composition, packaging and labelling of dairy products, and the Charter of the French Language, and Ontario legislation, such as the Edible Oil Products Act and the Milk Act.
We regularly guide clients through the regulatory issues involved in launching new products and novel foods, and assist, when necessary, in obtaining Interim Marketing Authorization from Health Canada and Test Market Authorization from the CFIA.
We also advise clients on the need for and management of food recalls.
A sampling of some of the mandates in which we have been involved is as follows:
- Provided opinions on the use of novel ingredients and additives in a number of products, including energy drinks, chocolate beverages, carbonated drinks, yeast, juice mixtures, canned fruit, fruit in gelatin, etc.
- Advised clients on procedures for conducting product recalls in a variety of situations, including plant contamination, container failure, pasteurisation failure and mislabelling.
- Obtained Test Market Authorization from the CFIA for a major corporation to allow the corporation to market processed fruit products in Canada in non-standard container sizes for a two-year period.
- Obtained Interim Market Authorization from Health Canada for a major corporation to enable the corporation to market its food product containing an unapproved additive while regulatory amendments were passed.
- Obtained permanent regulatory change of the Food and Drug Regulations amending the products in which a particular additive was permitted.
Selected Experience
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