OTTAWA â€" Foods and drinks boosted with high levels of certain vitamins and minerals are going to have to be reformulated to stay on store shelves as Health Canada moves to close a loophole that has permitted fortified snacks and beverages to be sold as natural health products.
In a letter sent to the food industry this week, Health Canada said it is no longer accepting natural-health product (NHP) applications for products that are "represented, packaged and sold as foods." And by the end of December, the department expects to complete the transition of over 1,000 products to the food regulatory framework.
They include juices, vitamin waters, sports drinks and teas, as well as energy bars, chocolates bars, puddings, yogurts and cereals.
In an interview, Health Canada's director general of the food directorate said products flagged with safety concerns or determined "not safe for their consumption as foods" will be required to reduce the elevated levels of "high-risk" vitamins or minerals, like vitamin A in retinol form, to stay on the market.
The level of folic acid in some products will also likely have to be reduced because "we already have a satisfactory intake of this nutrient" in our diet, said Samuel Godefroy.
"The principle of safety is paramount," he said.
Health Canada is hoping this will solve what its own experts flagged more than three years ago as "consequential" problems around safety and consumer confusion of permitting companies to market fortified foods and drinks as natural health products.
The early reviews from public-health advocates, who said this looks like a win for consumers, are positive.
The industry group Food & Consumer Products of Canada also said it's "pleased that manufacturers have clear direction, based on sound science, from Health Canada on their next steps in transitioning these products."
The issue dates back to 2005, when Health Canada settled on a plan to give the food and beverage industries discretion to boost products, including junk food, with extra nutrients, under general rules that would have taken into account the overall integrity and safety of the food supply.
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq shelved the initiative in 2009, after public-health advocates attacked the idea of allowing junk food to be fortified.
By then, companies had already found what they called a "workaround" to get novel foods boosted with vitamins and minerals to market â€" by classifying them as natural health products. With a huge backlog in licence applications for natural health products, Health Canada allowed products on the market while they were in the queue waiting for an NHP licence.
The number of "food-like" products on the NHP wait-list â€" and available for sale in Canada â€" doubled from about 500 in 2009 to about 1,000 today. Fifty-three "food-like" products have been granted NHP licences over the years.
"This is definitely not an approach to, if you will, get a backdoor to fortification," said Godefroy of the transition. He added the department "has been very clear" for years "that the natural health products regulations were never intended to regulate foods."
Products that currently comply with Canada's food regulations will be required to add a Nutrition Facts Table on the back panel of food packages, mandatory for all products regulated as a food.
Meanwhile, "products deemed to present no immediate safety concerns, but found to be in contravention with the Food and Drug Regulations, will be transitioned through the issuance of Temporary Marketing Authorization Letters (TMAL)."
And products "identified as unsuitable to be sold and consumed as foods or products that do not meet the conditions for a TMAL will be provided with the opportunity to reformulate."
Godefroy couldn't say how many fall into this last category, but any product, for example, containing Health Canada's daily tolerable upper intake level of vitamin A for adults will need to be reformulated.
That maximum, well above Health Canada's recommended daily intake, was established after evidence showed that consuming more of vitamin A in retinol form may cause liver abnormalities and, if consumed by pregnant women, birth defects.
Until recently, Coca-Cola's FUZE Vitalize beverage, sold as a natural health product that will now be transitioned to the food regulations, contained the tolerable upper intake level. The company drastically reduced the amount of vitamin A in the fruit drink last fall after University of Saskatchewan professor of nutrition Susan Whiting and others complained the elevated level could pose a health risk.
Pointing out the original FUZE drink "could never have happened" under the food regulations, Whiting said Health Canada's transition plan looks good because it "forces a company to justify what they're adding."
Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, who had complained separately to the cola company about its fortified juice product, also welcomed Health Canada's transition plan.
"It actually looks as if Health Canada closed an industry-friendly loophole," said Freedhoff, a family doctor and founder of Ottawa's Bariatric Medical Institute, a nutrition and weight management centre.
"If, in fact, this leads to product reformulation, which decreases the added vitamins and minerals to sugar water and other non-nutritive foods, than this is a good thing for Canadians."
sschmidt@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/SarahSchmidtPN
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