Bill C-283

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First Reading

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1st Session, 39th Parliament,

55 Elizabeth II, 2006

house of commons of canada

BILL C-283

An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (food labelling)

R.S., c. F-27

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

1. The Food and Drugs Act is amended by adding the following after section 5:

Food labelling

5.1 (1) Notwithstanding section 8 of the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, no person shall import or package a raw single ingredient meat, meat by-product, poultry meat or poultry meat by-product, or a raw single ingredient marine or fresh water animal product for retail sale unless a label is affixed to the package clearly showing, in English and in French, in the prescribed form and manner

(a) the reference amount of a serving of the food; and

(b) the number of calories and the amount of total fat, saturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohy-drate, dietary fibre, sugars, protein, iron, calcium, vitamin A and vitamin C per reference amount, expressed as a percentage of the recommended daily intake that may be prescribed by the Food and Drug Regulations.

Exception

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person if

(a) in either of the two years before the year in which the person packages or imports the food, the person had gross annual revenues of less than $500,000 from the sale of the same food; and

(b) the package label contains no claims concerning the nutritional composition or healthfulness of the food.

Content of label

(3) For the purpose of providing the label information required by paragraph (1)(b) for a raw but not ground single ingredient meat, meat by-product, poultry meat or poultry meat by-product, or a raw single ingredient marine or fresh water animal product, a person may report information obtained from an independent chemical analysis of the product or, if applicable, representative nutritional composition data recognized by the Minister as appropriate for this purpose.

Food sold for immediate consumption

5.2 (1) Every person who sells food to the public for immediate consumption shall

(a) indicate beside the name of the food on the menu, when menu options are set out in a printed menu provided to customers during table service,

(i) the number of calories per serving, and

(ii) the amount of sodium and the sum of saturated fatty acids and trans fatty acids, expressed as a percentage of the recommended daily intake that may be prescribed by the Food and Drug Regulations; and

(b) indicate beside the name of the food on the menu, when menu options are set out only on a menu board, the number of calories per serving, and provide the other information required by subparagraphs (a)(i) and (ii) to customers upon request.

Bulk sales or buffet formats

(2) When food is sold in two or more flavours or varieties, or in bulk or buffet formats, the information required by subsection (1) shall appear

(a) beside the name of the food on the receptacle from which it is sold in bulk or buffet format;

(b) beside the name of each flavour or variety of the food, when the number of calories or the amount of any nutrient required to be disclosed in the highest-calorie flavour or variety exceeds by more than fifteen per cent the number of calories or the amount of that nutrient in the lowest-calorie flavour or variety; or

Exception

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply

(a) in respect of a person if, in either of the two years before the year in which the person sells the food, the person’s establishment or vending machine business had gross annual revenues of less than $10 million from the sale of the food, including revenues from all subsidiaries and franchises;

(b) in respect of any menu item that was sold in the establishment for fewer than 60 days in the previous calendar year, whether or not those days were consecutive; or

(c) in respect of any menu item from which gross annual revenues, including revenues from all subsidiaries and franchises, in either of the two years before the year in which the person sells the food, were less than $50,000.

Percentage of ingredients indicated on label

5.3 (1) No person shall sell a prepackaged food, other than a food sold for immediate consumption, comprising more than one ingredient unless the list of ingredients on the label indicates the percentage by weight of

(a) the three most prevalent ingredients;

(b) each ingredient present in the food that is a

(i) vegetable,

(ii) fruit,

(iii) whole grain,

(iv) legume, or

(v) added sugar; and

Words or pictures on label

(2) When any of the ingredients specified in paragraph (1)(b) are emphasized on a food label using words or pictures, the label shall indicate the percentage by weight of the emphasized ingredients

(a) beside the emphasized words or pictures, or

(b) beside the common name of the food,

in characters at least fifty per cent the size of those employed in the common name of the food .

Coming into force

2. This Act comes into force two years after the day on which it receives royal assent.

Published under authority of the Speaker of the House of Commons

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