Front-of-Package Labelling in Canada: Opportunities Abound
Label law feeds food industry innovation.
Meeting Canada’s new front-of-package nutrition labelling regulation is a good time for the food industry to update packaging design, production, and formulation.
Front-of-Package Labelling in Canada: The Upside for Design, Production, and Formulation
The new nutritional label will sit at the top right-hand corner of the food package, taking up the space often used for branding, marketing, product news, or features. So, the regulatory requirements mean that many brands will need a package refresh or redesign. And when a project like this is underway, it’s also a good time to revisit production processes. Finally, manufacturers can tweak formulations to avoid being labelled ‘high in saturated fat, high in sodium, or high in sugar.’
The new regulation will require a more rigorous package and production adaptation than a Nutritional Fact Table (NFT) change.
Branding, marketing, news, and features must move to another area of the package.
This is an opportunity to reconsider food product branding and package design.
Design
Place the new nutritional symbol on the principal display panel.
Placement: The Principal Display Panel (PDP) is the part of the label that is displayed or visible under normal or customary conditions of sale or use (usually the front panel). The food’s common name and net quantity must be displayed on the PDP. [1]
The new nutrition symbol will display on the upper half of the label for most package shapes. It will appear on the right half of the package label if the label is wider than tall. See some visuals.
Colour: The black and white symbol has safety space around it. The symbol cannot be altered.
Size: The size of the nutrition label is correlated to the side of the principal display panel.
Production
Update the substrate and print process for more sustainable packaging.
Consider making sustainability-related changes to the food package substrate, from plastic to paper or recycled paper.
Review your commercial print processes for environmental impact. For example, according to one expert, “Flexo has been repeatedly proven to be the most sustainable printing method. Flexo has the ability to easily print on pliable and flexible substrates, allowing the use of more sustainable and recyclable materials.” [2]
Formulation
Some brands may opt to avoid the potential stigma of a ‘High In’ label. Others know they will need to display it. Here are the rules.
Foods requiring the new Canadian nutrition symbol on the principal display panel.
1. General prepackaged foods that meet or exceed 15% DV of saturated fat, sugars or sodium
2. Prepackaged foods with a small reference amount (≤ 30 g or mL) that meet or exceed 10% DV of saturated fat, sugars or sodium
3. Prepackaged main dishes with a reference amount of ≥ 200 g* that meet or exceed 30% DV of saturated fat, sugars or sodium
Disclaimer: This text is not intended to replace Health Canada's Front-of-package nutrition labelling backgrounder.
Foods exempt from the new Canadian nutrition symbol on the principal display panel.
There are three general categories of exemptions:
Health-related such as 2% milk, whole or cut fruit or vegetables, eggs
Technical such as raw, single ingredients such as ground meat
Practical such as sugar, honey, and salt
The practical exemption is interesting. “Foods on which the nutrition symbol would be redundant, such as packages of sugar, honey, maple syrup, table and flavoured salt, butter and other fats and oils.”[1]
Disclaimer: These images are not intended to replace Health Canada's Front-of-package nutrition labelling backgrounder.
The Bottom Line
Implementing on-pack changes required by regulation is often a large and time-consuming project with many SKUs. At Invok Brands, we devise customized workflows for clients that save at least 20% of the time it would normally take to make regulatory label updates. We don’t sacrifice accuracy for speed; that time savings includes rigorous quality control steps.
Since your food brand packaging will be ‘in the shop’ for the regulated label updates, consider how to deliver even more to your customer. What design, formulation, or other production details can you improve? It's the perfect time to do so.
The experts at Invok Brands wrote this article to guide you through these regulations and see the possibilities to improve your branding and/or package design.
Read our short insights each month about front-of-package labelling in Canada.
[1] Health Canada's Front-of-package nutrition labelling backgrounder. Accessed: April 24, 2023.
[2] Which Printing Method is the Most Sustainable? (luminite.com). Accessed April 26, 2023.