Health Canada’s Nutrition Facts Table Nutrient Changes Part 1

Note: This information was originally published on February 13, 2017 and updated on December 11, 2025.

Health Canada’s final amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) – Nutrition Labelling was published in the Canada Gazette on December 14, 2016. With the final ruling, there have been a number of changes to nutrients on the Nutrition Facts tables. These changes have been implemented in our Genesis R&D Foods program.

Below is a short summary that covers some of the nutrient changes, including the newly required mandatory nutrient, increases in Daily Values (DV), and unit of measure changes. For a more extensive list of nutrient changes, click here.

Daily values are reference amounts of nutrients to consume or not to exceed and are the reference points upon which the % daily value in the nutrition facts table are based. Check out this blog post to see the summary of nutrients with decreased DVs: Canada’s Nutrition Facts Label Nutrient Changes Part 2.

Nutrient DV + Unit Changes

Dietary Fibre is a core (mandatory) label nutrient and its DV has increased from 25 g to 28 g.

Vitamin C has changed from a core label nutrient to an additional label nutrient and the DV has increased from 60 mg to 90 mg.

Folate is an additional nutrient whose label unit is changing from 220 mcg of total folate to 400 mcg of Dietary Folate Equivalents (DFE).

A Special Note on Potassium

The amendments published on December 14, 2016 changed Potassium from an additional (voluntary) label nutrient to a core label nutrient and increased the DV from 3500 mg to 4700 mg. On October 20, 2022, Health Canada amended the DV again to 3500 mg in order to reflect updated information from The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) on Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI). The deadline for manufacturers to come into compliance with the 2022 update is January 1, 2026.

Learn More About Health Canada Labelling Regulations

To learn more about the new features in the Canadian Label module check out our recorded webinar, Examining Canada’s New NFt’s and Nutrient Definitions, or see how to use Genesis Foods to easily create Health Canada Compliant Labels for your products.