NUTRITION FACTS

 New Nutrition Labels!

This page was reviewed or revised on Monday, August 24, 2009.

On January 1, 2003 mandatory nutrition labelling came into effect in Canada .  Manufacturers have up to three years, while small businesses have up to five years to change their labels.  Health Canada has made changes to help clarify and standardize the nutrition information on food labels.  Nutrition labelling will help consumers to make healthier food choices to reduce their risk of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

What nutrition information will be on the new labels?

The Nutrition Facts table and the ingredient list are mandatory.  Nutrition claims are optional.

The Nutrition Facts table must include Calories as well as thirteen core nutrients based on a specified amount of food.

13 Core Nutrients

Fat                               Sugars
Saturated fat               Protein
Trans fat                      Vitamin  A 
Cholesterol                  Vitamin C
Sodium                        Calcium
Carbohydrate              Iron
Fibre   

The Nutrition Facts table can be displayed in three different formats.  The three formats are:  standard, horizontal, and linear.  

What foods must have the Nutrition Facts table?          

The new table will appear on most prepackaged foods.  Foods exempt from having the label include:  alcoholic beverages, fresh fruit and vegetables, raw meat and poultry (except ground meat and poultry), raw fish and seafood, foods that are sold only in stores where they are prepared or processed and individual servings of food intended for eating immediately.

What about Nutrition claims?

Nutrition content claims and diet-related health claims are allowed, but Health Canada regulates the wording.  Health claims for heart disease, certain types of cancer, osteoporosis, high blood pressure and dental caries are allowed if the foods meet specific criteria.

Example of a nutrient content claim:  “No sugar added”  

Example of a diet-related health claim: “A healthy diet low in saturated and trans fat may reduce the risk of heart disease”

What about the Ingredient List?

All ingredients are listed by weight in descending order.  In the following example of an ingredient list the food contains more whole wheat flour than salt.

Ingredients:  Whole wheat flour, wheat bran, sugar, salt…

How can you use the new information?

·            To compare similar foods and decide which one is the healthier choice for you.

·            Notice the below information in the Nutrition Facts table is per serving size (eg. Per 250ml).  Compare this to the amount you eat.

·            To find foods that have more of a nutrient that you might want (eg. fibre, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron).

·            Choose foods less often with large amounts of a nutrient you do not want (eg. fat, saturated fat, and trans fat, cholesterol and sodium).

·            To determine the relative amounts of a nutrient in a food by using the % Daily Value (%DV).  Is there a little or a lot of a nutrient in one serving of the food?

Partly Skimmed Milk

Example 1

Looking at the two Nutrition Facts tables for partly skimmed milk and homogenized milk reveals that they have different amounts of fat.  The partly skimmed milk has 2.5 g while the homogenized milk has 9 g. For someone with heart disease who is reducing their fat intake the partly skimmed milk would be a wiser choice!

Homogenized Milk

Example 2

Looking at the two Nutrition Facts tables show both types of milk have 30% of the Daily Value for calcium.  For a person with osteoporosis trying to increase their calcium intake either choice would provide the same amount of calcium.

Want to know more?

Look at these Web sites or contact your nearest Health Unit.

www.healthyeatingisinstore.ca

www.healthcanada.ca/nutritionlabelling

www.dietitians.ca

Additional Information

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