The rules for what must and may be declared on the label of food and in advertisements of food are constantly changing. New or complex rules that are often missed can expose businesses to unwanted costs associated with a range of possible post-market events, including consumer complaints, enforcement actions and even recall.

As businesses prepare to launch new products or update product labelling in 2025, here is our list of top 10 food labelling and advertising developments to watch:

1. New greenwashing prohibition in force as of June 20, 2024: While not specific to food products, businesses should be careful about the types of environmental claims that are included in food labelling in light of the new greenwashing prohibition under the Competition Act, particularly in the absence of clear guidance, as the Competition Bureau is still in the process of developing comprehensive guidance. Common examples of environmental claims included on food labels which may be subject to enhanced scrutiny include: vague claims (i.e., eco-friendly); production claims (i.e., processed using renewable energy, carbon neutral production process) and recyclability claims in relation to the packaging (i.e., 100% recyclable).
2. New Front of Pack (FOP) labelling in force on January 1, 2026: Beginning January 1, 2026, with the exception of certain raw, single-ingredient foods and other foods that are protective of health, prepackaged foods that are high in saturated fat, sugars, and/or sodium, based on prescribed thresholds, will be required to carry a front-of-package nutrition symbol. The format and manner of declaring are highly prescriptive.
3. New change to high-intensity sweetener labelling in force on January 1, 2026: The prescribed manner for declaring that foods contain aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame and neotame (collectively “high-intensity sweeteners”) has been updated to reflect consumer feedback. Bolded statements will now be required in the ingredients list.
4. End of transition period for supplemented foods previously approved under Temporary Marketing Authorizations (TMA) to comply with labelling requirements on December 31, 2025: The Regulations Amending the Food and Drug Regulations and the Cannabis Regulations (Supplemented Foods) came into force on June 28, 2022, requiring all new supplemented foods marketed in Canada to comply with prescriptive labelling requirements including supplemented food facts table, supplemented food caution identifier and cautionary statements where applicable. Supplemented foods that were already marketed in Canada (or for which a TMA application was pending) were granted a transition period to comply with new requirements. As of January 2, 2026, all supplemented foods should be labelled in compliance with the new requirements.
5. Common mistake of undeclared allergens: A missing allergen declaration commonly results in recall of the product, due to the potential for serious adverse health effects. Given the importance of accurate allergen labelling, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has recently issued Allergen labelling tips for the food industry to assist industry in complying with prescribed requirements.
6. Common mistake in describing plant-based alternatives: The market for plant-based alternatives to traditional animal-based food products (i.e., milk, cheese) is expanding, with many businesses marketing innovative products in response to the demand. In the absence of compositional standards for plant-based alternatives, the rapid influx of diverse products has created some uncertainty concerning how such products are to be described to consumers, particularly against the backdrop of using standardized common names in whole or in part.
   
   To assist the industry, the CFIA recently issued proposed guidance on how to label and represent plant-based alternatives to egg products. While limited to egg alternatives, the risk mitigation principles likely extend to other plant-based foods. To avoid being misleading, the components of plant-based products must provide sufficient information to ensure that (1) the consumer understands what the product is, and (2) it is clear the product is not an egg product. Generally, the label should accurately describe the true nature of the food.
7. Coming change to compositional standards that may affect common name declarations, timeline TBD: In Canada, certain “standardized” foods must be declared by their “common name” and comply with corresponding “compositional standards” dictating the foods’ ingredients, quality and manufacturing methods as prescribed.
   
   In 2023, Health Canada (HC) and the CFIA issued Draft Regulations Amending Certain Regulations Concerning Food Additives and Compositional Standards, Microbiological Criteria and Methods of Analysis for Food (Draft Regulations), which purport to remove the compositional standards from the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) and, instead, incorporate them by reference therein. This will allow HC and the CFIA to more easily alter the compositional standards affecting common names, which in turn may impact industry’s ability to use certain names to describe both standardized and unstandardized foods. The Draft Regulations are expected to come into force in late 2024, at which time the CFIA intends to review compositional standards for products such as dairy products, grain-based products, white chocolate, simulated meats and plant-based foods.
8. Common misuse of the term “organic”: Only foods and ingredients that meet the requirements of Part 13 of the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations are permitted to be described as “organic.” Given the market trend of consumers increasingly choosing organic foods, the CFIA recently reiterated its commitment to organic claims enforcement, meaning there is a greater likelihood of detection of non-compliant claims.
9. Common mistake in making nutrient content and health claims: Any time a nutrient contained in a food is highlighted outside of the nutrition facts table (e.g., “high in vitamin C” or “trans fat-free”), it must comply with the CFIA’s prescriptive rules for Nutrient Content Claims, which were recently updated in August 2024. The same goes for Health claims on food labels regarding the function of nutrients or their therapeutic effects (e.g., vitamin C helps build strong bones), the rules for which were updated in March 2024.
10. Coming change restricting advertising food to children, timeline TBD: Health Canada is proposing to amend the Food and Drug Regulations to prohibit the advertising to children of certain foods containing sugars, sodium or saturated fat. Health Canada held a public consultation in connection with its Policy update on restricting food advertising primarily directed at children which ended in June 2023. The timeline for publication of the regulations is uncertain. In the interim, Ad Standards has already begun administering the industry-led Code for the Responsible Advertising of Food and Beverage Products to Children.

For more information on this topic, please reach out to the authors, Yulia Konarski and Emma Fillman.