CFIA seeking input over egg alternative package labels

Canadians have until Oct. 28 to submit comments

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is giving Canadians the opportunity to weight in on labels for plant-based alternatives to egg products.

“The guidance clarifies how to distinguish plant-based alternatives from egg products and explains how the different components on labels (such as words, images and packaging) should be used to create an overall impression of the product that is not misleading,” the CFIA said in a July 29 release.

In Canada, under the Food and Drugs Act and the Safe Food for Canadians Act, food packaging must be accurate.

Plant-based beverages, for example, cannot have the word “milk” on the packaging.

And plant-based proteins can’t be labeled with words or images to imply they are comparable to meat or poultry products.

Just Egg, a company that makes egg alternatives from plant-based ingredients, indicates on its packaging that the product is “made from plants (not chickens).”

Canadians have until Oct. 28 to submit comments for the egg product labels.

People are encouraged to take the online questionnaire.

The anonymous questionnaire asks participants to identify themselves as a farmer, retailer or another option. It also asks the person’s home province or territory, and if the answerer plans to make food in the future.

Farms.com has contacted Egg Farmers of Canada for comment on the consultations and any recommendations it has for how to label plant-based egg products to ensure transparency.

A spokesperson for the organization told Farms.com Egg Farmers of Canada would have a comment in a few weeks once the assessment is further along.