Food Law & Regulation Canada

In this opening session, our Co-Chairs will provide an overview of the latest and regulatory developments and highlight what’s to come for the Canadian food industry – the True North Update! This session will help lay the foundation for the conference and touch upon pressing stories developing and critical updates to be aware of.

• Assessing new developments to the Food Products Act, as well as compliance issues touching food and beverage products sold in Québec
• Understanding the differences with the Federal Regime and how it encourages cooperation with provincial agencies
• Overview of the regulator CARTV: reserved designations and added value claims in Québec
• Examining the consequences of your company failing to meet Quebec’s food safety requirements and what enforcement/litigation/civil liability can look like in Québec
• Analyzing best practices to meet the Bilingual language requirements under Bill 96 on food and beverage packaging and labels
  • Does everything have to be translated, even trademarks?
  • Challenges and grey zones
  • Devising successful advertising strategies for food advertising in Québec

• Understanding the various stakeholders involved in the dairy, chicken, and red meat industries of Canada
• Exploring the perception of animal protein by consumers, government, and industry
  • Benchmarking best practices for: nutrition, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare
  • Extrapolating lessons from the recent injunction against CFIA with respect to Kosher slaughter
• Appreciating the vital role and importance of supply chain management
• Unveiling new and evolving developments within industry, e.g., the use of AI and biosensors on farms

• Examining food and beverages packaging and recyclability categories and requirements
• Understanding the restrictions surrounding single use plastics for packaging
• Analyzing how price inevitably affects packaging and the carbon footprint
• Determining best practices to minimize costs and increase decomposability of packaging for your products
  • Case studies of successful packaging meeting recyclability, sustainability, and decomposability requirements
• Understanding the Federal Plastics Registry reporting requirements
• Developing best practices for maintaining supply chain records

As January 1, 2026, approaches, manufacturers need to be in full compliance with the latest front of pack (FOP) labelling requirements or face severe penalties. This session will highlight what manufacturers need to do to successfully transition to the new requirements.

• Assessing the latest developments concerning Health Canada’s guidance on Front of Pack (FOP) labelling
• Answering what is required on a food label
• What are FOP Nutrition symbols?
• Developing a checklist to ensure compliance with the FOP requirements
• Evaluating how product labels vary depending on added saturate fats, sugars, and sodium
• Analyzing the challenges of labelling products for export in compliance with other country’s standards
• Can we see packaging harmonization on the horizon?

Precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) has recently gained global attention with the current work being undertaken by the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) and the recommendations published by the Expert Working Group convened by the FAO/WHO. To assist Canadian food business operators with this work, Food Allergy Canada, through industry collaboration, developed and released a consensus-based set of recommendations. In this panel, topics of discussion will include:

• Learning the recommendations proposed by CCFL and the Expert Working Group
• Contrasting with Food Allergy Canada’s Allergen Management Guidelines for Food Manufacturers
• Developing robust and accurate allergen management practices
  • Appreciating the concerns with respect to precautionary allergen labelling (e.g., “may contain”), which is not specifically regulated in Canada
• Risk-based assessments for precautionary allergen labelling
• Understanding the consumer perspective and the importance of having effective labelling practices in place

Join FHCP and Ad Standards for a year after implementation review of Ad Standards’ Code for the Responsible Advertising of Food and Beverage Products to Children. Come prepared with your pressing questions as we will have a designated Q&A period.

In this panel, legal counsel, regulators, and marketing and advertising executives from industry will come together for a one-of-a-kind panel that will dive deep into current best practices for advertising and marketing. Points of discussion include:

• Exploring the process that marketing undergoes in making advertising claims
• Dissecting the steps legal goes through to ensure the advertisement and claims are in compliance
  • What guidance is set by Ad Standards that must be followed?
• Examining the timeline of a food or beverage advertisement from start to finish
• Understanding the role and authority of the Competition Bureau in advertisements
  • What penalties can the Competition Bureau place on a food or beverage manufacturer?
• Analyzing the different compliance requirements when advertising on-the-shelf products versus online products

This session will act as a primer for food attorneys on alcohol laws and regulations. We also cover new challenges to alcohol across the nation. Point of discussion include:

• Reviewing the key laws and regulations applicable to alcohol, federally and provincially
• Appreciating labelling and packaging requirements for alcohol
• Considering borders: excise duties and importation
• Knowing which licenses are needed for production, packaging, and sale
• Keeping an eye on the future, e.g:
  • non-alcoholic beverages
  • direct-to-consumer alcohol beverages
  • warning labels on alcohol beverages and responsible consumerism