This week, Health Canada took a bold step towards encouraging Canadians to make healthier food choices by announcing a far-reaching regulatory change. The agency will finalize front-of-package labels for foods excessively high in fat, sugar, or sodium. This program is just one piece of a larger movement to increase consumer awareness of harmful ingredients, helping to steer people away from dangerous dietary choices.
Under the new regulation, foods that exceed specific thresholds for fat, sugar, or sodium content will be required to display a distinctive black-and-white magnifying glass symbol on their packaging. This new symbol would serve as a helpful shortcut for consumers looking to eat healthier. This makes it easier for them to quickly spot products that don’t fit their health-focused missions.
The implementation of these labels marks a pivotal step in Health Canada’s ongoing commitment to protect the health and safety of Canadians. By highlighting foods that contain elevated levels of unhealthy ingredients, the agency aims to empower individuals to make informed choices about their diets. We hope this large-scale initiative will be instrumental in helping people eat healthy, accessible foods while decreasing the consumption of unhealthy foods in communities across the country.
Health Canada has established criteria for the use of health claims on food labels in Canada. The new front-of-package labels should hew to these gold standards as closely as possible. Products loaded with fat, sugar or sodium have to print the magnifying glass passed symbol on their front packaging in bold. This is to ensure that consumers are best able to identify them. This prominent visibility is meant to grab the attention of grocery shoppers and encourage them to choose the healthier option.
The motivation behind this regulatory change is clear: Health Canada seeks to combat rising rates of diet-related health issues among Canadians. The agency takes an important step toward consumer expensibility, encouraging consumers to more easily identify potentially harmful ingredients. This move will help families learn to eat healthier, greener and keep active.
