Creating Canadian Simplified Nutrition Labels for Single-serving Prepackaged Products | ESHA Research

In 2016 Canada passed several amendments to it’s Food and Drug Regulations (Nutrition Labelling, Other Labelling Provisions and Food Colours), including the addition of a new simplified label format for Single-serving Prepackaged Products.

The Simplified Single-serving Prepackaged Product Nutrition Facts table offers a slimmed-down format that was designed to help manufacturers and suppliers comply with labeling regulations on packages with limited space for label display, while still providing relevant information to consumers.

Genesis R&D Version 11.10 includes the three main Nutrition Facts table templates for this format.

This blog will look at:

• The regulations and requirements for using this label format
• How to create these label formats in Genesis R&D
• Examples of label formats

Regulations and Requirements for Using the Simplified Formats for Single-serving Prepackaged Products

Defining “Single-serving”

Prepackaged products must meet the single-serving criteria to use one of the Simplified Labels for Single-serving packages.

The CFIA States:

“A prepackaged product is considered to be a single-serving container based on the following criteria:

• If the package contains less than 200 % of the reference amount (RA) for that food,

or

• If the quantity of food in the package can reasonably be eaten by 1 person at a single eating occasion

Nutrient Display Options

Because single-serving product packages often have limited space for labeling, regulations allow manufacturers to omit some of the mandatory nutrients, as well as the “Not a significant source of …” footnote typically seen on simplified labels. The following are the parameters for the new format:

Nutrients required in all cases

• Calories
• Fat
• Carbohydrate
• Protein

Nutrients required if the declared value is >0

• Saturated Fat + Trans Fat
• Sugar
• Sodium

Nutrients required in certain cases

• Any nutrient about which a claim is made
• Sugar alcohol, vitamins, or minerals (other than iodine added to table salt or fluoride added to water/ice) when added to the product

Voluntary options

• Manufacturers may voluntarily display nutrients, even if the value is 0.

How to create these labels in Genesis R&D

1. Create the Recipe in Genesis R&D and have it open on-screen.
2. Make sure your product meets the criteria for the Simplified Single-serving Prepackaged format.
3. Go to Edit Label > General.
4. For Country/Authority, make sure Canada is selected and for Regulation make sure Nutrition Facts (2016) is selected. Recommendation Profile and Style can change, depending on your needs, but this example uses Adult and Standard/Vertical.
5. For Display Type, select Simplified – Single-serving Prepackaged Products.
6. Enter common household measures for Serving Size, in both English and French. Remember, for the Standard and Tabular styles, these will be generated as bilingual labels. You do not have to enter a number for Servings Per Container since these will always be for single-serving containers.
7. And, again, because these will be bilingual labels, you should also select Language Order.
8. Click OK, and your label will look like this:

 Label Examples

Adult Simplified Standard Label, Single-serving Prepackaged Products

Child Simplified Standard Label, Single-serving Prepackaged Products

Adult Simplified Horizontal Label, Single-serving Prepackaged Products

Child Simplified Horizontal Label, Single-serving Prepackaged Products

Adult Simplified Linear Label, Single-serving Prepackaged Products

Child Simplified Linear Label, Single-serving Prepackaged Products

Watch this tutorial for instructions on creating Canada labels, including the Standard/Narrow format: