Canada to Lobby against Mandatory Ingredients Labeling

The Canadian delegation for Codex will dispute mandatory labeling for the amount of health-related ingredients in processed foods, considering current guidelines to be sufficient.

The Codex Committee on Food Labeling (CCFL) is due to meet in Ottawa later this month to discuss international labeling guidelines amid increasing consumer awareness of the food they eat, a trend that mounts pressure on the industry.

One of the topics on the agenda is the suggestion that the food industry should be required to display details the amounts of fruit, vegetables, whole grains and added sugars in the Quantitative Declaration of Ingredients.

However, a Codex report said:  "The Delegation of Canada indicated that it did not support the need for universal QUID labelling [sic] in view of the considerable amount of information already provided in the General Standard for the Labeling of Prepackaged Foods and related guidelines to assist consumers' choice.

"This view was supported by the Delegations of United States and Chile. Some delegations supported retaining the current text of the Standard but agreed that further discussion of quantitative declaration would be needed."

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