THIS JUST IN!

Front-of-Package Nutrition Labelling, as part of Health Canada’s Healthy Eating Strategy, will be mandatory as of January 1, 2026 and the symbol is now finalized.

The regulations with all details are set to be published in the Canada Gazette, Part II on July 20, 2022.

The purpose of this symbol is to help consumers make informed choices about the foods they buy and provide education at the store-level about foods with high sodium, sugar and saturated fat.

Required on the top half of the front panel of a package, this symbol will be mandatory when a prepackaged food meets or exceeds set levels for sodium, sugars or saturated fat.

The symbol could include any or all of the three lines, which would look something like this:

As the intention of this initiative is to help consumers recognize foods of possible concern, there are exemptions for foods with proven health effects such as fruits, certain dairy products, single ingredient meat cuts and ground meat.