Web-based tool checks Canadian food product labels compliance

Thursday, April 30, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

Farmers making value added products and food manufacturers wanting to check if their labels meet federal regulations are still able to contact Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials despite a change in how the agency offers its pre-market labelling service.

As of April 1, CFIA discontinued the voluntary pre-market label review service and switched to a web-based Industry Labelling Tool. The web-based tool has been available for about a year.

CFIA media relations officer Denis Schryburt says by email the previous pre-market label service enabled companies to voluntarily submit labels to CFIA for review before marketing their product. CFIA officials would review the label based on federal labelling requirements and “provide comments to the company requesting the review,” he says, adding the review service wasn’t “an approval of the label” but a way to educate industry on government labelling requirements.

But now companies can check if their labels comply with federal rules themselves using the web-based tool. Schryburt says the “checklist used by inspectors to provide the label review service has been made accessible online in order for companies to carry out a self assessment of labels.”

When using the tool, people can send follow-up question to local CFIA offices, he explains. The change doesn’t affect food safety or consumer protection. CFIA continues to confirm the accuracy of labels’ ingredient lists and nutrient values through label verification inspections.

The decision to offer the web-based pre-market labelling tool “was about giving industry a more efficient tool rather than a way to save costs,” he notes.

Norm Beal, executive director of Food and Beverage Ontario, says there hasn’t been a lot of feedback from the organization’s members on the change and “that tells me folks aren’t overly concerned about it.”

Food and Beverage Ontario is a non-profit organization representing the province’s food and beverage manufacturers.

Before manufacturers print off a million labels for a new product, for example, they want to know if the label meets federal rules and “from my understanding the web-based platform basically gives you a yes or no” and outlines what needs to be changed. Industry “will find this new tool effective and will generally know whom to call if they have a problem,” he says.

“I think this is going to be a lot more efficient and it’s going to be much more timely,” he says, noting, “it’s not like there isn’t someone you can call if you have a problem.”

Beal says CFIA providing staff to answer questions in cases of problems using the web-based tool is a good move on the agency’s part. If there wasn’t the ability for manufacturers to contact CFIA “that would be a real concern for our members.”

Susan Abel, vice president safety and compliance at Food and Consumer Products of Canada, says the web-based tool includes a more searchable electronic version of CFIA’s exiting paper document, the Guide to Food Manufacturers and Advertisers. That’s a standard reference document providing important guidance for all food manufacturers making products for the Canadian market.

Food and Consumer Products Canada represents companies making and distributing food, beverages and consumer good products for the Canadian market.

“But as with anything new it takes a little bit of time to get used to how to navigate the on-line tool,” she says, noting the new tool is extremely useful for people unfamiliar with the paper document and learning how to put together a food label for food in Canada. For people who have used the paper guide a lot, they know exactly which page to flip to and it’s taking some time to get used to the electronic version.

Still, Abel says she sometimes forgets which section to turn to in the paper guide but with the electronic version she can use key words to search the document and get the information she needs. “You can typically find what you’re looking for fairly quickly.”

She agrees with Beal that manufacturers’ ability to still contact CFIA with questions is good. Most food manufacturers are in favour of switching to the web-based tool, she notes. “We know what the rules are” and manufacturers have access to help if they need it. With the change, they don’t have to wait weeks and months to get an opinion on their label.

Schryburt says in 2013/14 there were 2,714 completed reviews using the pre-market label service while in 2014/15 there were 1,377 up to March 30, 2015.

The web-based tool provides “clear guidance on the federal labelling rules that apply across the food sector to support compliance with federal labelling requirements before new labels enter the marketplace,” he says, noting food manufacturers and farmers are still responsible of complying with federal laws governing food products sold in Canada.

Abel says CFIA does targeted surveys where officials go out to retail stores, pick products off shelves “and they test them. If they find something that is out of sorts they contact you right away” and request the manufacturer fix the problem. BF