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Food Regulatory Modernization

In 2018, Treasury Board launched a targeted review to identify regulatory practices and requirements that are bottlenecks to economic growth and innovation in the agri-food sector. 

In 2019, Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) committed to re-design the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) through: 

Health Canada and CFIA presented their update on the Part B food regulatory modernization project in October 2022, which CHFA attended as a key stakeholder.

Health Canada’s plan includes amendments that would touch upon several hundred provisions.

At a high level, the proposed interventions can be grouped into 3 broad categories, as follows:

The proposed modernization work would touch 3 existing frameworks.

  1. Food Compositional Standards
  2. Microbiological Criteria and Associated Methods of Analysis
  3. Food Additives

The modernization WILL focus on the framework within which the technical rules are found, and WILL NOT include changes impacting labels or technical rules.

Current Advocacy Efforts

In spring 2023, CHFA started working with government to improve Part B of the Canadian Food and Drug Regulations.  While the agility will offer timely response to new science, technology, & innovation, as well as flexibilities with international trading partners, CHFA will be closely evaluating the conditions in which they are set and possible future implications on industry.

CFIA recently released a report  based on what they heard from stakeholders. Overall, there was support for how the CFIA proposes to screen, communicate, and consolidate requests to modify compositional standards. While CHFA supports these modernization efforts, we also believe there are inherent risks in moving our food standards out of the regulations and incorporating them by reference.  

We will continue to advocate for agile regulatory change that can keep pace with advancements in science/technology, environmental changes, and an increasingly complex global food system. 

We are aiming for regulatory impacts that are outcome based and will both protect and encourage growth and innovation for the health food industry, as well as access to a broader range of safe and innovative food products for Canadian consumers.