Canada Legislation
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Introduction to Canadian Food contact Legislation
Food Packaging Regulations
The safety of all materials used for packaging foods is
controlled under Division 23 of the
Food and Drugs Act and Regulations, Section B.23.0001 of
which prohibits the sale of foods in packages that may impart
harmful substances to their contents. This regulation puts the
onus clearly on the food seller (manufacturer, distributor, etc.)
to ensure that any packaging material that is used in the sale
of food products will meet that requirement.
Premarket Assessments
Because of the general nature of this requirement, and in the
absence of positive lists delineating permitted ingredients,
packaging materials intended for use with foods may be submitted
voluntarily to the Food Directorate (FD) for a premarket
assessment of their chemical safety in relation to Section
B.23.001. This applies to any type of material, whether it is in
the form of a finished product such as a laminated film, a
container, etc. or a formulated product such as a plastic resin,
a colour concentrate, etc. In addition, suppliers of single
additives like antioxidants, ultra violet absorbers, etc. may
also independently request letters of opinion for their own
products before selling them to formulators or converters.
Letters of No Objection
Letters expressing favourable opinions are called "no
objection letters' and can be used by the recipients to assure
their prospective customers that the products they are selling
have been evaluated by the Food Directorate and deemed
acceptable, from a chemical safety standpoint, for use in
specified food packaging applications. However, it is important
to note that such letters do not constitute approvals in a legal
sense and do not relieve the food sellers of their
responsibilities under Section B.23.001 of the Food and Drug
Regulations.
Duration of No Objection Status
A letter of no objection has no expiry date. It is considered
valid as long as the composition and intended use of the
material remain as described in the original submission. It is
the responsibility of the manufacturer to advise the Food
Directorate of any changes that may affect the validity of the
no objection status. However, The Food Directorate reserves the
right to rescind the no objection status of any given material
should information come to light showing that its use may
potentially pose a health risk to consumers.
Guidance Documents/Guidelines
Food packaging material suppliers may consult the guidance
document under "publication" for details concerning the
Information Requirements for Food Packaging Submissions.
Interaction with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)
In the case of materials intended for use in federally
registered food establishments operating under other Acts and
Regulations that are administered by the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency, manufacturers and suppliers of food packaging
materials are advised to make their requests for acceptance
directly to that agency should they wish to have their products
listed in the
Reference Listing of Accepted Construction Materials, Packaging
Materials and Non-Food Chemical Products .
Notwithstanding its role as advisor to CFIA on matters
pertaining to the chemical safety of food packaging materials,
the FD does not (with the exception of polymer resins) maintain
lists of products that have been deemed acceptable for use in
food packaging applications as a result of a pre-market
assessment.
While submissions to the FD for the premarket clearance of a food packaging materials are voluntary under the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations, they are a mandatory requirement in other legislation and certification programs that fall under the purview of the CFIA (e.g. Meat Inspection Act and Regulations, HACCP) . For more information on CFIA's requirements, please visit the agency's website at www.cfia-acia.agr.ca .
Food Directorate Listings for Polymers
To assist manufacturers of food packaging materials in
recognizing equivalency (and thus interchangeability) between
polymer resins, the Food Directorate maintains, on the Health
Canada website, positive lists of polymers for which letters of
no objection have been issued for use in food packaging and
other food contact applications. The intent of the lists is to
preclude the need for new requests for letters of no objection
in situations where interchanging one resin with a comparable
one on the positive lists is the only change made to the
composition of a food packaging material that has already been
sanctioned by the FD for food contact uses. In such a case, it
is only necessary to apprise the FD of the change to maintain
the validity of the letter of no objection. However, the FD
reserves the right to challenge the equivalency determination
made by the manufacturer upon receipt of the notification.
The polymers are categorized and coded into 12 specific types (tables 1 to 12) plus one other category (table 13) to accommodate any polymer that cannot be fitted into any of the first 12 tables. The Lists of Acceptable Polymers For Use in Food Packaging Applications include all the polymers that have been granted no objection status by the Food Packaging Materials & Incidental Additives Section of the Chemical Health Hazard Assessment Division (Food Directorate) for use in food packaging applications since November 1st, 2003 for polyethylenes (Table 1) and since January 1st, 2004 for all other polymers (Tables 2 to 13). Polymers having received no objection letters before those dates will not be listed unless confirmation is received at the HPFB that their chemical composition and intended uses remain as described in the original submissions.
The lists include the trade name and grade of each polymer, its manufacturer, the date on which the no objection letter was issued and details of any limitations imposed on its food packaging uses (notwithstanding the fact that it should be technically suitable for its intended end-uses).
This information is originating from Health Canada and this reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor as having been made, in affiliation with or with the endorsement of Health Canada.