Who is responsible for food labelling in Canada?
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Health Canada (HC) carry joint responsibility for food labelling policies under the Food and Drugs Act. This applies to all foods, not only biotechnology-derived foods. While HC is responsible for setting food labelling policies regarding health and safety matters (e.g. nutritional content, special dietary needs etc.), the CFIA is responsible for non-health and safety labelling requirements and enforcement of all food labelling legislation. Specifically, the CFIA is responsible for consumer protection against misrepresentation and marketplace deception with respect to food labelling, packaging and advertising and for prescribing basic food labelling and advertising requirements for all foods (e.g. listing of food ingredients and components, product claims, mandatory information and statements, etc).
