Labelling Requirements for Meat Products

Labeling is an important means of communicating product information between you and your customers. All meat products sold to the public, including at the farmgate, farmers' markets or any other retail outlets, require proper labeling.

To help ensure a safe meat supply for consumers, all meat offered for sale in Ontario must be inspected and animals must be slaughtered at licensed abattoirs. Meat products produced in provincially-licensed plants are labelled in accordance with several regulations:

Provincial regulations:

• Meat Regulation (Ontario Regulation 31/05) under the Food Safety and Quality Act
• Beef Regulation (Ontario Regulation 685/94) under the Farm Products Grades and Sales Act

Figure 1: Ontario Meat Inspection Legend

Federal regulations:

• Meat Inspection Regulations (Canada),
• Food and Drug Regulations (Canada),
• Consumer Packaging and Labeling Regulations (Canada) and;
• Livestock and Poultry Carcass Grading Regulations (Canada).
  

A carcass or part of a carcass that has been approved and stamped with the meat inspection legend is considered to be fully labeled.

Prepackaged products (self-serve at retail) must be labeled with the inspection legend and the following mandatory information:

Mandatory label information Inspection legend - the Ontario meat inspection legend provides buyers with assurance that the meat product is from a provincially licensed meat plant. The legend also bears a unique number that allows the plant of origin to be easily identified.

Common name -the common name prescribed by the Food and Drugs Act, or the name by which the product is commonly known.

Net quantity - the net quantity of the product in metric, except for individual servings of food.

Name and address - the label must have the name and address (including postal code) of the person or company responsible for production of the product or for whom the product was prepared, prefaced by "prepared for".

List of ingredients - foods that contain more than one ingredient require a list of ingredients.

Durable life date - if the product has a shelf life of 90 days or less, a "best before" date is required.

Production date or code - must be included if the production date cannot be determined from the durable shelf life date.

Storage instructions - for consumer and bulk products if the product must be stored at a different temperature than room temperature. Storage instructions should state "Keep refrigerated" or "Keep frozen."

Cooking instructions - if the product is not a ready-to-eat meat product but has the appearance of, or could be mistaken for, a ready-to-eat meat product, the label must indicate "uncooked", "ready to cook" or an equivalent term. The label must also include comprehensive cooking instructions that will result in safe consumption of the product.

Bilingual information - all information on the label must be in both English and French (there are a few exceptions).

Nutrition Labeling - nutrition labeling is required on all pre-packaged products with some exceptions. The nutrition information panel is referred to as "Nutrition Facts Table (NFT)."

Declaration of percent protein - if the meat product contains water or phosphate salts, and the product is not cured or preserved and/or there is no standard for the product, a declaration of the percent meat protein present in the product must be included as part of the product common name.

Beef grade - if the beef is graded, the label should indicate the grade; if the beef is ungraded, the words "ungraded beef" should appear on the label.

Figure 2: Inspected carcasses

Additional information

Allergens - while the labeling of allergens is not required by the legislation, it is strongly recommended that there be some indication on the label. It is recommended that the following allergens be listed if they are present in foods as either ingredients or components: peanuts, tree nuts, sesame seeds, milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans and shellfish, soy, wheat and sulphites.
Depending on the type of product, there may be additional labelling requirements.
For more information, please consult:

OMAFRA's website - Labelling
www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/food/inspection/meatinsp/mi_label.htm

Ontario Regulation 31/05 Part 12 (Meat)
www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/DBLaws/Regs/English/050031_e.htm

Ontario Regulation 685/94 (Beef)
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/regs/english/elaws_regs_940685_e.htm

CFIA Manual of Procedures Chapter 7 (Canada)
www.inspection.gc.ca/english/anima/meavia/mmopmmhv/table7e.shtml

Guide to Food Labelling and Advertising (Canada)
www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/labeti/guide/toce.shtml

Food and Drug Regulations (Canada)
laws.justice.gc.ca./en/F-27/C.R.C.-c.870/index.html

Consumer Packaging and Labelling Regulations (Canada)
laws.justice.gc.ca./en/C-38/C.R.C.-c.417/index.html

Livestock and Poultry Carcass Grading Regulations (Canada)
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-0.4/SOR-92-541