Notice of Health Canada’s proposal to modify the Lists of permitted food additives as part of the modernization of Part B of the Food and Drug Regulations

Notice of proposal – Lists of permitted food additives

Reference number: NOP/ADP-0041

November 4, 2023

Table of contents

• Summary
• Proposed modifications to the Lists of permitted food additives
• Overview of proposed modifications
• Draft – List of permitted anticaking agents
• Draft – List of permitted flour treatment agents (formerly titled List of permitted bleaching, maturing or dough conditioning agents)
• Draft – List of permitted food colours (formerly titled List of permitted colouring agents)
• Draft – List of permitted emulsifying, gelling, stabilizing or thickening agents
• Draft – List of permitted food enzymes
• Draft – List of permitted firming agents
• Draft – List of permitted glazing agents (formerly titled List of permitted glazing or polishing agents)
• Draft – List of permitted food additives with other purposes of use (formerly titled List of permitted food additives with other accepted uses)
• Draft – List of permitted sweeteners
• Draft – List of permitted acidity regulators and acid-reacting materials (formerly titled List of permitted pH adjusting agents, acid-reacting materials and water correcting agents)
• Draft – List of permitted preservatives
• Draft – List of permitted sequestering agents
• Draft – List of permitted starch-modifying agents
• Draft – List of permitted yeast foods
• Draft – List of permitted solvents (formerly titled List of permitted carrier or extraction solvents)
• Rationale
• Implementation and enforcement
• Contact information

Summary

Health Canada's Food Directorate is proposing changes to the Lists of permitted food additives as part of the Department's modernization of Part B of the Food and Drug Regulations (Regulations). The amendments to modernize Part B are proposed as the Regulations Amending Certain Regulations Concerning Food Additives and Compositional Standards, Microbiological Criteria and Methods of Analysis for Food ^{Footnote 1}. Some of the proposed amendments are further to the work that had been done in 2012 on the regulatory framework for food additives.

Prior to October 2012, the rules for food additives were set out in Part B of the Regulations. Food additives that were permitted in Canada were listed in the food additive tables to Division 16 of Part B. The tables set out which food(s) each additive is permitted in and the maximum level of use or maximum residue in each food. There were also various provisions for food additives in Divisions of Part B, including provisions within food compositional standards set out in those Divisions.

In October 2012, the Minister of Health issued 15 ministerial regulations ("Marketing Authorizations" or MAs) that incorporated by reference, on an ambulatory basis, 15 new Lists of permitted food additives (Lists) that are published online, separate from the Regulations. The Lists essentially replicate the structure of the 15 food additive tables from Division 16. The advantage offered by the MAs and online Lists is that Health Canada is able to authorize most new food additives and new uses of already-permitted food additives through an administrative process of updating the Lists rather than by amending the Regulations.

Stakeholders were advised to refer to the new Lists of permitted food additives when seeking information on currently authorized additives and authorized additive uses ^{Footnote 2}. However, there are cases where the Lists set out that a food additive must be used in accordance with a specified food additive provision in Part B. Many of these are provisions set out in food compositional standards.

The current proposal for modernizing Part B builds on the 2012 work by consolidating most of the food additive rules into the Lists and a single Division of Part B, and incorporating the Lists by reference into that Division instead of into the MAs that are separate from the Regulations.

As part of the modernization work, Health Canada's Food Directorate intends to make certain changes to the food additive Lists, including standardizing the structure of the Lists, revising some of their titles, and revising text for consistency or clarity. The Directorate's intent in this regard was first published on December 14, 2021, in Health Canada's Proposal to Modernize the Structure and Titles of the Lists of Permitted Food Additives (Ref. No. NOP/AD-0038). That proposal was open for comment for 50 days and, overall, comments received were supportive of the proposed changes ^{Footnote 3}.

The Directorate has now revised the proposal from December 14, 2021, taking into consideration feedback that was received in response to the proposal as well as other changes that were identified as part of the Department's work to modernize Part B, as described in the present Notice of Proposal.

This Notice also contains the new List entries that are proposed, as part of the modernization amendments to Part B of the Regulations, to consolidate food additive rules that currently exist as a combination of conditions of use in the List and any food additive provisions set out in compositional standards or elsewhere in Part B.

Proposed modifications to the Lists of permitted food additives

Health Canada's Food Directorate proposes to modify the way the rules for food additives currently found in the Lists and Part B of the Regulations are presented so that these rules are written consistently, easier to understand, and more readily accessible by consolidating them into the Lists.

To ensure no changes to the current rules for food additives would be introduced by these modifications to the Lists, scientific, policy and legal viewpoints were considered (including information provided to the industry over the years by Health Canada and enforcement policy applied by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)). Modifications to the Lists that would require reviewing the current rules fall outside the scope of the modernization and are not part of this proposal. The Directorate will pursue other means to update these rules, as needed.

Although some of the proposed modifications to the Lists are consequential to the modernization of Part B of the Regulations, amendments to Part B are not the subject of this Notice. The purpose of this Notice is to seek comments from stakeholders on the consolidated text presented in the modernized Lists, with the objective that any discrepancies with the current rules that might have been introduced by the revised text will be brought to our attention.

Overview of proposed modifications

Under the proposed new regulatory framework, a food would be adulterated if a food additive is present in or on it, or has been added to it, unless the requirements set out in sections B.16.003 to B.16.006 of the modernized Regulations are met ^{Footnote 4}. The requirements include compliance with the modernized Lists. The Lists would set out, in columns 1 to 5 (shown below), which food(s) each additive is permitted in, the permitted source of the additive, where applicable, the purpose for which the additive may be used in that food, and the maximum level of use or maximum residue in each food, and any other conditions that may apply.

Figure 1 - Text description

This is the proposed new structure of the Lists of permitted food additives: Item, Column 1 Food Additive, Column 2 Source, Column 3 Food, Column 4 Purpose of Use, Column 5 Maximum level of use, maximum level of residue and other conditions, notes.

Column 1 "Food additive"

The names of the permitted food additives set out in this column would be updated (e.g. to reflect more specific naming of food enzymes) and their formatting would be harmonized across lists (e.g. consistent use of capital letters, hyphen). For all instances where synonyms are currently either included in parentheses or listed as separate items, the synonyms would be removed from the Lists and added (if not already included) to the CFIA's Permitted synonyms for food additives table so that only one common name remains in column 1 (for certain food additives, acronyms would be maintained in this column).

Only one food additive would be listed per item. For example, in the List of permitted colouring agents, certain food colours are grouped under the same item number. In the modernized List that is retitled the List of permitted food colours, these food colours would be listed separately and have their own item number.

In the modernized Lists, the item number, consisting of a letter followed by one or more numbers (e.g. A.1, A.2), associated with each food additive would be updated to restore the alphabetical order of the food additives. The order would be in sequence based on the English common name of the additive. The sequence of food additive names would be the same in both the English and the French Lists (i.e. each additive would have the same item number in both versions of a List).

Column 2 "Source"

Currently, only the List of permitted food enzymes has a column titled "Permitted Source" to set out the permitted source of an additive. For other Lists, the permitted source has been identified in column 1, together with the name of the additive. For example, the permitted sources of steviol glycosides are shown with this additive's name in column 1 of the List of permitted sweeteners as "Steviol glycosides from: Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni; Saccharomyces cerevisiae CD15380; Saccharomyces cerevisiae CD15407; Saccharomyces cerevisiae Y63348; Yarrowia lipolytica VRM". In the modernized List, these permitted sources for this sweetener would be set out in a new column 2 "Source" that would be added to the List. All the Lists would be standardized to have this " Source" column. The acronym "n/a" (meaning "not applicable") would appear in column 2 "Source" when the List does not specify a permitted source.

Column 3 "Food"

The current regulatory framework for food additives is based on a prohibition against selling a food containing a food additive other than a food additive provided for in regulation (section B.16.007 of the Regulations). Regulatory provisions then allow foods containing food additives to be sold if specified conditions are met. In the modernized framework, this prohibition would be replaced by an adulteration provision that would prescribe that a food is adulterated if it contains a food additive, and it would then be prohibited to sell the adulterated food under section 4 of the Food and Drugs Act.

The new framework, like the current one, would set out exemptions that would allow foods containing food additives to be sold if specified conditions are met. One of the conditions would be that there is an entry in a List setting out that the additive is permitted in the food. This works for nearly all the foods and food categories that are currently in the Lists, but there are a few cases where it is not a "food" ^{Footnote 5} that is set out in the current "Permitted In or Upon" column (currently column 2) of the List. For example, the List of permitted food additives with other accepted uses sets out in column 2 that dimethylpolysiloxane formulations and lecithin are permitted in or upon "Surfaces that come in contact with food". Since "Surfaces that come in contact with food" are not foods, using this term in column 3, titled "Food", of the modernized List would not meet the condition required for the foods to be exempted from the adulteration provision. That is, the foods that could have dimethylpolysiloxane or lecithin on them as a result of contact with a surface that was treated with either of these additives would not be exempt from adulteration if "Surfaces that come in contact with food" is the term that is used in the modernized List. Consequently, in the modernized List, this term would be replaced by "Foods that come into contact with surfaces treated with dimethylpolysiloxane formulations" and "Foods that come into contact with surfaces treated with lecithin".

As part of the regulatory modernization of Part B of the Regulations, the CFIA is proposing to repeal the standards of identity and composition for foods that are set out in Part B of the Regulations and publish them in the Canadian Food Compositional Standards, which would be incorporated by reference into the Regulations. The CFIA would be revising the common name of some of these foods when the standards are "moved" to the new document ^{Footnote 6}. As a consequence to the name changes, Health Canada would need to update the names of these standardized foods accordingly in column 3 of the modernized Lists.

In the Regulations, the common name for a standardized food is set out in bold-face font in the standard. Some standards show a sequence of common names. The CFIA is administering these standards, on a case-by-case basis, as being the same standard for different foods or as setting out common names that are synonyms for the same food. Where the standard would be administered as common names that are synonyms for the same food, Health Canada proposes, as a general approach, to use the first name from the sequence as the name of the standardized food in the modernized Lists. There may be some cases, however, where one of the other common names from the sequence of names would be used for a standardized food for clarity or to align with the Regulations. For example, the four common names currently set out in the standard for "Flour, White Flour, Enriched Flour and Enriched White Flour" in section B.13.001 of the Regulations could be used interchangeably as the common name for this food, but it is the first one appearing in the sequence, namely "Flour", that is used elsewhere in the Regulations and in the current Lists of permitted food additives. In the CFIA's Food Compositional Standards Document, the same common names "Flour, White Flour, Enriched Flour and Enriched White Flour" would be maintained for this food. However, in the modernized Regulations, the common name would be revised to "white flour" (instead of "flour"). Accordingly, Health Canada intends to replace the term "flour" with the term "white flour" in the modernized food additive Lists.

New paragraphs would be included in the modernized Lists to set out permitted uses of food additives that are currently only set out in the Regulations or consequential to changes proposed as part of the modernization regulatory amendments to Part B of the Regulations. For example, the standard for "Nutmeg" set out in section B.07.026 of the Regulations provides for nutmeg to have a thin coating of lime prior to grinding but this use of lime is not currently reflected in the Lists. This use would be added to the List of permitted food additives with other purposes of use to align with the current standard, since all provisions for food additives would be removed from the standard once it is moved to the CFIA's Food Compositional Standards Document.

New paragraphs would also be included in the modernized Lists to set out certain foods separately from the other food(s) they are grouped with in the current Lists. This would allow Health Canada to specify certain conditions of use in new column 5 ("Maximum level of use, maximum level of residue and other conditions of use") for these foods that are not needed for the other food(s) they are currently grouped with in the Lists.

Other changes to food names in the modernized Lists would be to ensure consistency in terminology within and across the Lists or to more clearly indicate what is the intended food, or both. For example, in the List of permitted anticaking agents, there is currently an entry for "Varietal cheese curd". Since this category is not defined anywhere in the Regulations, it may not be clear what types of cheese curd fall into this category. In the modernized List, this food category would be identified as "(Naming the variety) cheese curd" based on the standard of identity and composition for "(Naming the variety) Cheese" currently set out in section B.08.033 of the Regulations and which includes, but is not limited to, the varieties of cheese listed in the table to section B.08.033.

As another case, in French, the terms "marinades" in the Liste des édulcorants autorisés and in the Liste des agents de conservation autorisés and "marinades pour la viande (Titre 14) et la volaille" in the Liste des agents émulsifiants, gélifiants, stabilisants ou épaississants autorisés currently designate a liquid preparation used to marinate foods. However, in the Liste des agents de conservation autorisés and certain other Lists, the term "marinade" refers to the food used in the curing of preserved meat or preserved meat by-products and for which a standard is set out in section B.14.009 of the Regulations. Furthermore, in the Liste des agents rajusteurs du pH, des substances à réaction acide et des agents correcteurs de l'eau autorisés, the terms "marinades en conserve" designate canned pickles, a food which is subject to the standard set out in section B.11.051 of the Regulations for "pickles, cornichons, achards (relish), ou marinades".

To better differentiate these foods, the modernized French Lists would use the terms "préparations utilisées pour mariner les aliments" and "préparations utilisées pour mariner la viande et la volaille", instead of "marinades" and "marinades pour les viandes (Titre 14) et la volaille", when the intent is a sauce-like product for marinating a food. The English equivalent term "marinades" for these foods would be maintained in the English Lists as it is not ambiguous in English. When the intent of the French term "marinade" is a food standardized under section B.14.009 for use in the curing of preserved meat and preserved meat by-product, the modernized French Lists would use the common names "marinade par immersion" (cover pickle in English) and "marinade par injection" (pumping pickle in English), as applicable, which would be the common names for these standardized foods in the CFIA's Food Compositional Standards Document. The common French names for foods currently standardized under section B.11.051 of the Regulations (i.e. "pickles, cornichons, achards (relish), ou marinades") would be updated to "marinades et relishs" in the CFIA's Food Compositional Standards Document, where "pickles", "cornichons" and "marinades" would be collectively designated by the term "marinades" and "achards (relish)" by the term "relishs". Thus, in the modernized Liste des régulateurs de l'acidité et des substances à réaction acide, the foods "marinades en conserve" and "achards (relish) en conserve", currently listed separately under the same item, would be merged and updated to "marinades et relishs en conserve" ("canned pickles and relishes" in English).

As an example of ambiguity in an English food term, "meat" means either the edible part of the skeletal muscle of an animal ^{Footnote 7} as prescribed by the standard set out in section B.14.002 of Division 14 of the Regulations ("viande" in French), or the clean, dressed flesh of crustaceans, molluscs, other marine invertebrates and marine mammals as prescribed by the standard set out in section B.21.004 of Division 21 ("chair" in French).

The current Lists distinguish these two types of meat by referring to Division 14 or Division 21, or both, as applicable, in parentheses after the term "meat" appears (e.g. "Preserved meat (Divisions 14 and 21)"). In some cases, Division 22, which contains standards for meat products from poultry, is also referenced, which is not necessary because the standards for meat product from poultry include the term poultry in their name. For example, the food category "preserved poultry meat and preserved poultry meat by-products (Division 22)" is used in the List of permitted preservatives, but the reference to Division 22 is unnecessary because the standardized food categories have the term "poultry" preceding the term "meat" in the name ^{Footnote 8}.

In the modernized Lists these references to Division 14 and Division 22 would not be used. Instead, the Lists would only reference Division 21 when the intent of the term "meat" is to designate meat as defined in section B.21.004 (i.e. the cleaned, dressed flesh from crustaceans, molluscs, other marine invertebrates and marine mammals) or they would point to a specific provision in the CFIA's Food Compositional Standards Document that would set out what is meant by the food. Examples of such a revised food category would be "Packaged fish or meat (as defined in section B.21.002 of the Food and Drug Regulations) products that are marinated or otherwise cold-processed" and "Blend of prepared fish and prepared meat as set out in paragraph 18.1.3(g) of the Food Compositional Standards Document".

Finally, there would be some rearrangement of foods and food categories in the food column to set them out in alphabetical order. The paragraphs would have the same number in the English and French versions of the Lists, but the alphabetical order within paragraphs would be based on the order in each language (i.e. the English Lists would have alphabetical order based on the English common names, and the French Lists based on the French common names).

Column 4 "Purpose of use"

Currently, with the exception of the List of permitted food additives with other accepted uses, which has a column titled "Purpose of Use", the purpose of use for a food additive is indicated by the functional class(es) in the title of the List and, for certain standardized foods, by the functional class the additive is associated with in the standard prescribed in the Regulations. All the modernized Lists would be standardized to have a "Purpose of use" column (column 4) that would set out the permitted purpose for which an additive may be used in the food(s) or food category(ies) set out in column 3.

In the Notice of Proposal of December 14, 2021, Health Canada had proposed to subsume the functional classes pH adjusting agent, acid-reacting material and water-correcting agent, referred to in the current title List of pH adjusting agents, acid-reacting materials and water correcting agents, under the new, more general functional class "acidity regulator". However, the term "acid-reacting material" is defined in section B.03.001 of the Regulations as any one or any combination of lactic acid or its salts, tartaric acid or its salts, acid salts of phosphoric acid, and acid compounds of aluminum, and the standard for "Baking Powder" prescribed by section B.03.002 requires baking powder to contain an "acid-reacting material". Given the use of acid-reacting material as a functional class in relation to "Baking Powder", Health Canada would be maintaining "acid-reacting material" as a distinct purpose of use in the modernized List. Consequently, the title of the modernized List would be List of permitted acidity regulators and acid-reacting materials The CFIA would be maintaining this term in the standard for "Baking powder" in the Agency's Food Compositional Standards Document.

The previous standard for "Beer" prescribed in section B.02.130 of the Regulations contained the only other regulatory reference to the functional class "water correcting agent" that is in the current title "List of pH adjusting agents, acid-reacting materials and water correcting agents". The standard had listed pH adjusting agents and water correcting agents as two distinct functional classes of food additives that were permitted for use in the manufacture of beer. The standard did not identify the specific additives that were intended to have this purpose of use, and the List does not indicate which of the additives that are permitted for use in beer are pH adjusting agents and which are water correcting agents.

These two functional classes and the others that had been set out in the previous beer standard no longer appear in the updated beer standard that took effect on December 14, 2022. Instead, the standard provides more generally for food additives to which a marketing authorization applies and that are set out in the Lists of Permitted Food Additives published on the Health Canada website. The functional class of water correcting agent has also been removed from the title of the applicable modernized List (i.e. List of permitted acidity regulators and acid-reacting materials).

The current Regulations define food colour as any colouring agent that is referred to in section 2 of the Marketing Authorization for Food Additives That May Be Used as Colouring Agents. A proposed modernization change for the Regulations and the List of permitted colouring agents is to use only the term "food colour" as the functional class for additives set out in this List. Therefore, the title of the modernized List would be the List of permitted food colours.

For the List of Permitted emulsifying, gelling, stabilizing or thickening agents, the additives that would be assigned the purpose of use of "gelling agent" in the new "Purpose of use" column (column 4) in the modernized List are gelatin, agar and carrageenan (and its salts), consistent with the definition of gelling agent in section B.01.001 of the Regulations, as well as tara gum and tamarind gum, both of which Health Canada has authorized for use as gelling agents. In cases where the additive is permitted in a standardized food and the standard currently associates the additive with a particular functional class, then the purpose of use for that additive in that food set out in the modernized List would be the functional class identified in the standard. For additives that have not clearly been authorized for a specific purpose of use in a food, the modernized List would assign the three purposes of use of emulsifying agent, stabilizing agent, and thickening agent, which is what is already permitted for those additives if there is no provision indicating otherwise, with the exception of gelatin, agar and carrageenan, which would be assigned the additional purpose of use of gelling agent, as explained above (i.e. gelatin, agar and carrageenan would be assigned, in total, the four purposes of use of emulsifying agent, gelling agent, stabilizing agent, and thickening agent). For additives that have been authorized for one or more of the four purposes of use of emulsifying agent, gelling agent, stabilizing agent, and thickening agent in a food, the modernized List would set out the specified authorized purpose(s) of use in that food.
For example, tamarind gum was authorized for the four purposes of use in unstandardized foods and, thus, would be assigned the four purposes of use of emulsifying agent, gelling agent, stabilizing agent, and thickening agent for these foods. In contrast, tamarind gum was only authorized as a stabilizing agent in sherbet because the standard for sherbet only provides for stabilizing agent, and, therefore, would only be assigned that purpose of use for sherbet.

For future permitted uses of food additives, Health Canada would take into consideration the purpose(s) of use identified by the petitioner who requests authorization of the use of the additive by filing a food additive submission.

Some terms used for the purpose of use in column 3 of the current List of permitted food additives with other accepted uses would be revised for clarity and consistency. The new terms would appear in the List of permitted food additives with other purposes of use. Currently, the List of permitted food additives with other accepted uses sets out that "Microcrystalline Cellulose" is permitted for use as a "Stabilizing and thickening agent" in "Cream for whipping" (subitem M.6(10) of the List) and "Potassium Stearate" is permitted for use as a "Stabilizing agent" in "Emulsifying preparations containing propylene glycol monoesters" (subitem P.5.1(2) of the List). These permitted uses would be moved to the modernized List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents so that all food additives permitted as stabilizing or thickening agents, or both, are set out in this List. Also, subitem P.7(1) of the List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Accepted Uses, which currently sets out "Propylene Glycol" as permitted for use as a "Solvent" in "Oil-soluble annatto", would be removed since the modernized List of Permitted Solvents would set out that "Propylene Glycol" is permitted for use as a "Carrier solvent" in "Food additive preparations" (which includes oil-soluble annatto).

The List of permitted preservatives currently consists of four Parts, each of which roughly corresponds to additives used for curing (Part 1) and as antibacterials (Part 2), antifungals (Part 3) and antioxidants (Part 4). This division of the List has an historical basis. The modernized List that would be standardized with the other food additive Lists would no longer be divided into four parts, and instead all the additives would be assigned the parental functional class of "preservative" in the new "Purpose of use" column (column 4).

Column 5 "Maximum level of use, maximum level of residue and other conditions"

The last column of the all 15 of the current Lists of permitted food additives set out the maximum level of use or maximum level of residue for a food additive in a food and other conditions that apply to the use of the additive in the food.

The maximum level of use and the maximum residue are essentially the upper limit on the amount of the additive that can be in the food. For example, in the case of carrier solvents, the solvent is expected to be present in the food by virtue of the technical effect for which it is used, so carrier solvents have a maximum level of use. For extraction solvents, the solvent is used in manufacturing the food, but it does not need to be present in the finished food. The maximum residue assigned to extraction solvents is the upper limit on the amount of solvent that is allowed to remain in the food after it has served its technical function in manufacturing the food.

For all the modernized Lists, when the words "Good Manufacturing Practice" are set out in column 5, they mean the amount of the additive in or on the food, or added to the food, does not exceed the amount required to accomplish the purpose for which it is added (see section B.16.003 in the proposed amendments to Part B of the Regulations).

The modernized Lists would be standardized to use the same terminology to indicate when the maximum level of use for a food additive is on the basis of the food as consumed. For example, when the foods listed in column 3 of a List are concentrates or mixes (e.g. "Concentrates for unstandardized non-carbonated fruit flavoured beverages; Mixes for unstandardized non-carbonated fruit flavoured beverages") but the maximum level of use or maximum residue set out in column 5 is intended to apply to the foods prepared from these concentrates or mixes (e.g. the consumer adds water to make the beverage), then the numerical maximum level of use or maximum residue set out in column 5 would be followed by the text "in the food as consumed", "in the beverage as consumed" or "in the [naming the food] as consumed". The only exception is for the use of additives in ice cream mix or ice milk mix, where the maximum level of use would be set out on the basis of the ice cream or ice milk. This is because the standards for "Ice Cream" (currently set out in section B.08.062 of the Regulations) and "Ice Milk" (currently set out in section B.08.072 of the Regulations) require that these foods be obtained by freezing an ice cream mix and ice milk mix, respectively, and the ice cream and ice milk so obtained are the foods as consumed, so there is no need to specify the "as consumed" basis.

Column 5 would also set out any other conditions for use for a food additive in a food, including use in combination with one or more other food additives, as is done in the column "Maximum Level of Use and Other Conditions" in the current Lists. Where a condition has been set out for in-combination use of additives, each additive must be used in accordance with what is permitted for that additive in the food when it is used in combination, as set out by its respective entry in the List.

For some food additives, the current Lists have a condition of use expressed by pointing to a food additive rule that is in the Regulations. They point to the rule in the Regulations using the words "in accordance with" preceding the regulation that is referenced. In most cases, these rules would be set out entirely in column 5 of the modernized Lists as conditions of use. In some cases, other conditions that currently exist have been set out in the modernized Lists using an updated style for legal drafting of such rules.

Column "Notes"

This column, titled "Notes/Additional remarks" in Health Canada's Notice of Proposal from December 14, 2021, was intended to be a "non-regulatory" column that only provided information or clarification helpful to the reader in interpreting the Lists. Considering comments received in response to the December 14, 2021, proposal, as well as concern that the information in this column could be construed as regulatory in nature, Health Canada would limit the content of this column to hyperlinks to administrative documents related to the permitted uses of food additives published on the Government of Canada's website (e.g. Notices of proposal and notices of modification). The title of this column would be "Notes". Health Canada intends to publish separate guidance for using the Lists.

Health Canada's Food Directorate invites stakeholders to carefully consider the proposed modifications to the Lists of permitted food additives described above by consulting the documents referenced below. Comments and questions on the modernized Lists can be sent to the Food Directorate using the contact information provided at the end of this Notice. Requests to change the current permitted uses of food additives or to approve new uses for food additives not yet permitted in Canada fall outside the scope of this Notice and should be sent to the Directorate through the usual food additive submission route.

1. Draft – List of permitted anticaking agents
2. Draft – List of permitted flour treatment agents (formerly titled List of permitted bleaching, maturing or dough conditioning agents)
3. Draft – List of permitted food colours (formerly titled List of permitted colouring agents)
4. Draft – List of permitted emulsifying, gelling, stabilizing or thickening agents
5. Draft – List of permitted food enzymes
6. Draft – List of permitted firming agents
7. Draft – List of permitted glazing agents (formerly titled List of permitted glazing or polishing agents)
8. Draft – List of permitted food additives with other purposes of use (formerly titled List of permitted food additives with other accepted uses)
9. Draft – List of permitted sweeteners
10. Draft – List of permitted acidity regulators and acid-reacting materials (formerly titled List of permitted pH adjusting agents, acid-reacting materials and water correcting agents)
11. Draft – List of permitted preservatives
12. Draft – List of permitted sequestering agents
13. Draft – List of permitted starch-modifying agents
14. Draft – List of permitted yeast foods
15. Draft – List of permitted solvents (formerly titled List of permitted carrier or extraction solvents)

Rationale

As part of the Agri-food and Aquaculture Sector Regulatory Review Roadmap (Roadmap), Health Canada committed to pursuing amendments to the Regulations to address a number of longstanding irritants and barriers to innovation for the food industry and bring much needed flexibility and agility to Canada's food regulations. Under the theme of "Clear, Agile, Responsive Regulations", Health Canada committed to incrementally redesigning the food regulations, including streamlining food additive rules ^{Footnote 9}. The proposed modifications to the Lists of permitted food additives align with the objectives of this initiative.

Implementation and enforcement

The proposed changes would be effective on the day in which they are published in the Lists of permitted food additives. This would be announced via a notice of modification published on the Government of Canada's website.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is responsible for the enforcement of the Food and Drugs Act and its associated regulations with respect to foods.

Contact information

For additional information or to submit comments related to this proposal, please contact:

Bureau of Policy, Intergovernmental and International Affairs
Food Directorate
Health Products and Food Branch
Health Canada
251 Sir Frederick Banting Driveway
Tunney's Pasture
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0K9
Address locator: 2204C
Email: bpiia-bpaii@hc-sc.gc.ca

If communicating by e-mail, please use the words "Modernization of food additives lists (NOP-0041)" in the subject line of your e-mail. The Food Directorate is able to consider information received by February 2, 2024, 90 days from the date of this posting.