New front-of-package nutrition labels are coming to Canadian grocery stores by 2026.
Under new Health Canada regulations, stores must display the standardized icon, featuring a magnifying glass and statements indicating products high in saturated fat, sodium, or sugar. The implementation is required by Jan. 2026.
The new regulations target nutrients commonly found in processed foods, such as chips, cookies, and ready-made meals. Diets high in sodium, saturated fat, and sugar are known to contribute to the development of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and obesity, conditions which represent some of the leading causes of preventable death in Canada, according to Statistics Canada.
Registered Dietitian and Wellness and Sustainability Manager at Queen’s, Theresa Couto, believes students will likely take note of the labels, and although the label’s message is straightforward, Couto acknowledged that the criteria behind the warnings may not be immediately clear to all students.
“Students may understand [a product] is high in saturated fat, sodium or sugar, but they may not understand how this is calculated. For example, with sugar, that includes natural and added sugars,” she said.
The nutrition icons are black-and-white, magnifying-glass-shaped symbols placed on the top-right corner of packaging. The symbols are required when a product contains more than 15 per cent of the daily recommended value of any of the three nutrients, with some exemptions.
Certain foods won’t be required to display the icon for technical or health-related reasons. These include small or restaurant-only packages, raw single-ingredient meats and fish, fruits and vegetables without added sodium, sugar, or fat, and some dairy products like plain milk and cheese.
Whether the labels influence food choices, she explained, will depend on the context in which they’re consumed.
“If students are shopping for their weekly groceries or meal prep, [the labels] could have an impact. But if students are choosing to buy snack food items for other reasons—like for a social gathering—the labels may not influence their choices, and that’s okay too,” she said.
Although the policy is nationwide, its impact on first-year students may be limited. Most dining meals are prepared in-house and are therefore not subject to the labelling rules, which apply only to prepackaged foods. However, retail products on campus—including Fresh to Go items and chips and cookies—will be updated to comply.
But when it comes to how students should respond to the new labels, Couto encouraged students to approach their dietary choices with balance.
“I think [the labels] should be used as additional information to make informed choices, not as a set of rules where students can only select products that don’t have the front-of-label packaging. As part of a healthy diet, all foods can fit, including ones that are high in saturated fat or sodium at times.”
Tags
First Year in Focus, nutrition labels, processed foods
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.