CANADIAN FOOD INSPECTION AGENCY FOOD AND DRUGS ACT Notice of intent to amend the Food and Drug Regulations to update the beer compositional standards Notice is hereby given that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) intends to amend the Food and Drug Regulations (the Regulations) to make changes to the beer compositional standards to reflect innovation and market developments in brewing. This notice is meant to validate that the proposed changes reflect existing industry needs and communicate to stakeholders the most current policy direction. Background Division 2 of the Food and Drug Regulations establishes compositional standards for alcoholic beverages, including beer and ale, porter, stout and malt liquor. A compositional standard sets out what ingredients a product must contain, what ingredients a product may contain and any requirements of manufacturing (e.g. fermentation). Compositional standards may also provide technical specifications (e.g. methods of analysis) or food safety requirements. The non-health and safety aspects of the compositional standards set out in the Food and Drug Regulations apply only to foods that are imported or traded interprovincially. Compositional standards in the Food and Drug Regulations establish the requirements a product must meet in order to be labelled, packaged, sold, or advertised as beer in Canada. For alcoholic beverages meeting these standards, the common name appearing in boldface type in the Regulations must be used if that beverage has been imported or is intended for interprovincial trade. The Government of Canada has committed to revising the beer compositional standards in the Food and Drug Regulations to better reflect marketplace realities and industry innovation. Consultations The CFIA conducted online and face-to-face consultations from fall 2014 to spring 2015 on the beer compositional standards. The intent of the consultation was to obtain an understanding of stakeholders’ knowledge and views of the proposed changes, and to document the gaps, challenges and issues they identified. In June 2015, the Agency published an overview of the public feedback (see footnote 1) it received from the consultation on the proposed changes to the beer standard. Many elements of the proposed changes to the beer compositional standards were well supported. The rationale provided by respondents was that a modernized single standard would remove duplication, provide clarity and simplicity, and would allow industry more innovation in their product development. Supported elements included removal of the list of specific food additives from the standard (replaced by a general food additives provision) to rely on Health Canada’s Lists of permitted food additives; repeal of the standard for ale, stout, porter and malt liquor; removal of the “aroma, taste and characteristic” statement from the beer definition; and clarification of the term “carbohydrate” and that it can be added at any time during processing. Other elements of the proposed changes that received less support or where agreement was minimal included removal of wheat malt in the definition of beer; addition of a 4% limit by weight for residual sugar; and allowance for the use of flavouring preparations. Respondents were concerned that these elements would limit product innovation, exclude certain types or styles of beer that are currently available in the marketplace and advertised as beer, and cause confusion for consumers due to the lack of information regarding the use of flavouring preparations in products. Some other respondents felt that additional information was needed before they could accurately comment on the proposed changes. Additional engagement activities were conducted with provincial microbrewer associations, provincial liquor boards and Beer Canada to further discuss these specific elements and reach an agreement on the proposed changes. Proposed changes Following consultations and the additional engagement activities described above, the original proposal was revised. Definition of beer The proposal would include allowance for other micro-organisms (e.g. bacteria) in addition to yeast in the fermentation starter culture. In addition, the proposed changes would remove the subjective “aroma, taste and characteristic” statement in the definition and replace it with a measurable, objective requirement (i.e. maximum 4% by weight of residual sugar in the final product). The types of malted cereals that can be used in a standardized beer would not change. A standardized beer must contain either barley or wheat malt. It may also contain additional grains (e.g. sorghum) as a source of carbohydrate matter. The exclusive use of other grains, such as sorghum used in gluten-free beers, would result in these products not being considered standardized beer. While these products could not be sold, labelled or advertised as beer in Canada, these gluten-free beverages would still be available for consumers as an unstandardized alcoholic beverage. Maximum percentage of residual sugar It is anticipated that the proposed changes would add the requirement for beer to contain no more than 4% by weight of residual sugars in the final product offered for sale to consumers. For testing purposes, sugars would include all monosaccharides and disaccharides. (see footnote 2) This would partly replace the requirement for beer to “possess the aroma, taste and character commonly attributed to beer”, which is considered to be subjective and fails to recognize that different beer types or styles have different attributes. The proposed residual sugar requirement would provide a measurable objective measurement. A maximum residual sugar content of 4% by weight would be proposed in order to maintain the integrity of beer versus sweeter alcoholic beverages that are also based on barley or wheat cereal grains. Previously, the CFIA and Beer Canada had proceeded with testing speciality beers in order to have concrete results on sugar percentages. The 80 beers chosen for testing had been identified during the public consultation as potentially exceeding the proposed limit for residual sugar. Results of the testing indicated that a residual sugar limit of 4% would help to define beer versus malt-based beverages, which contain higher proportions of sweetening ingredients, and the majority of beers tested would not exceed the residual sugar limit. However, a small percentage of beers labelled as “barleywine” and certain flavoured beers might be excluded under the proposed standard. Food additives A food additive is any chemical substance that is added to food during preparation or storage and either becomes a part of the food or affects its characteristics for the purpose of achieving a particular technical effect. The food additive or its by-products become part of the food. While the current beer standard contains a list of permitted additives, in April 2012, Health Canada changed the way in which food additives were approved and listed for use in food products. Health Canada no longer makes regulatory amendments to food additives in food standards provisions, but rather proceeds with updating the Lists of permitted food additives, (see footnote 3) which are maintained on the Health Canada website. Each of the 15 lists is incorporated by reference into a marketing authorization. Marketing authorizations are ministerial regulations that set out the conditions and legal foundation for the use of the lists under the Food and Drug Regulations. Maintaining a list of permitted additives in the beer standard creates a dual source of information that might appear to be contradictory, and can be confusing for some brewers who may be unfamiliar with where to access this information. The proposed changes would remove the food additives currently listed in the beer compositional standards and replace them with a general provision that allows for the use of permitted food additives. This would align the beer compositional standards with Health Canada’s current approach of updating the Lists of permitted food additives. This approach is also aligned with the Government of Canada’s intent to reduce the regulatory burden for the industry. The food additives permitted for use in standardized beer would not change under this proposal. Some non-standardized alcoholic beverages may become standardized beer under the proposed changes. The list of permitted food additives for non-standardized alcoholic beverages differs from those permitted for standardized beer. Brewers of non-standardized alcoholic beverages may lose the ability to use some additives in their products and would have to apply to Health Canada to have the additives assessed for use in standardized beer. Processing aids A food processing aid is a substance that is used for a technical effect in food processing or manufacture, the use of which does not affect the intrinsic characteristics of the food and results in no or negligible residues of the substance or its by-products in or on the finished food (i.e. antifoaming agents used during manufacturing). The intent of the proposal would be to remove the listed processing aids from the standard. The Food and Drug Regulations do not typically list processing aids in compositional standards, with the exception of the standards for beer, wine, honey wine and pectin. Removal of the listed processing aids from the beer compositional standard would be consistent with the other standards and would allow for increased innovation in processing and brewing