Health Canada Gets Serious About Allergens With Mandatory Enhanced Allergen Labeling

On August 4, 2012, regulations amending the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) came into effect aimed at reducing the inadvertent consumption of undeclared food allergens and to provide consumers with safe food choices. The amendments require enhanced labeling for food allergens, gluten sources, or added sulphites on food labels whenever they or their derivatives are added to prepackaged foods. http://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2011/2011-02-16/html/sor-dors28-eng.html

General Requirements for Enhanced Labeling

Under the FDR, all pre-packaged foods must carry a label listing ingredients. The FDR now requires an enhanced prescribed list of known allergens, gluten sources, and sulphites to be declared in commonly used words. For example, the common names for plant sources of starches, modified starches, hydrolyzed plant proteins, and lecithin must now indicate source information (e.g., "hydrolyzed soy protein" instead of "hydrolyzed vegetable protein"); and the common