On February 16th 2011, Health Canada announced new regulations to strengthen labelling requirements by necessitating the use of clearer language and declaration of specific priority allergens, gluten sources and added sulphites for prepackaged foods sold in Canada.

Canada’s new food allergen labelling regulations will come into effect on August 4th 2012.

Currently, prepackaged foods must carry a label listing ingredients in decreasing order of proportion, although components of certain ingredients or classes of ingredients are exempt from the list.

In accordance with the new regulations, the following foods or proteins derived from the following foods are considered priority food allergens in Canada and as such will be required to be listed on the label:

– Almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts and peanuts

– Sesame seeds

– Wheat and triticale

– Eggs

– Milk

– Soybeans

– Crustaceans, fish and shellfish

– Mustard seeds

In addition, foods containing gluten protein or modified gluten protein from barley, oats, rye, triticale or wheat, including kamut or spelt will need to declare the gluten source. Lastly, added sulphites will have to be declared when sulphites in the product exceed 10 parts per million or when directly added to a food.

With consideration of food shelf life and the difficulty involved in implementing the new requirements for existing products, the food industry was given 18 months by Health Canada to implement the new requirements.

In order to ease the transition to the new labelling requirements, Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is continuously working with members of the food industry and providing updated information regarding the new requirements on the Health Canada Website.

The implementation of new regulations into existing products can often be an overwhelming endeavor for food producers who are forced to invest in product improvement and reformulation. Working towards the elimination of these or other obstacles can be a costly endeavor, making the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) program extremely beneficial to Canadian food producing companies. The SR&ED federal tax incentive program provides annual tax refunds to offset the costs of product improvement and development.

Your company may be eligible for SR&ED tax refunds if you have:

– made changes to eliminate allergens or to improve the nutritional properties of your product

– altered your product to increase its quality or shelf life

– upgraded production to a commercial scale

– invested in any projects to decrease water consumption, or improve heating/cooling processes.

To see how the experts at NorthBridge can help you with your SR&ED claim, or if you are unsure whether the work you do qualifies for the SR&ED program, contact us now for a [peanut-]free consultation.