Canada’s new nutrition warning labels are a step in the right direction

Health Canada has implemented a nationwide policy mandating front-of-package nutrition warning labels for foods containing more than 15 per cent of the daily recommended limit of saturated fat, sugar, or sodium.

This new requirement took effect on Jan. 1, but some manufacturers got ahead of the game and updated their labels prior to the start of 2026.

But nevertheless, as usual, Canada is late to the party.

The European Union has half a dozen different labelling schemes followed by many of its member states. A notable example is Nutri-Score, which was first implemented in 2017 and is used in France, Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands, among other countries. It is a five-colour graded system ranked from A to E, with A in dark green being the best for health based on nutrients and food content that is encouraged and limited.

Regularly eating foods high in saturated fat, sugars, and sodium are linked to increased risk of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and some cancers. Health Canada aims to enable Canadians to “make quick and informed choices when shopping for groceries,” so that you can be reminded about foods that are terrible for your health. This is not unlike cancer warnings on cigarette boxes.

Towards the end of 2025, The Lancet, one of the most influential peer-reviewed medical journals, published a series on the absolute global health catastrophe being unleashed by ultra-processed foods (UPF). UPFs include packaged foods high in calories, saturated fat, and added sugars and sodium, as well as low in nutritional value.

The Lancet’s findings were compiled into three papers, highlighting the proliferation of UPFs in our diets and their links to harming every major organ system. UPFs are connected to increased exposure to harmful chemicals and additives, and their consumption is disproportionately higher among people from lower-income backgrounds.

What’s also concerning is that the whole UPF sector is controlled by profit-driven corporations whose main driver is maximizing profit — even if it can lead to a global health disaster. The big players are familiar to us: Nestlé, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Unilever, among a few others. 

The review also raised concerns regarding a lack of government regulation and the enormous political sway UPF-producing corporations hold as they try to lobby governments away from any meaningful action.

Notably, The Guardian released an investigation in May that found the U.K. government dropped its measures to promote minimally processed and nutritious food in 2023 after yielding to UPF firms’ lobbying efforts.

Here at home, Lana Vanderlee, Canada Research Chair in healthy food policy, told CBC News in January that there are more initiatives Canada is considering, but the profit-focused food industry has made change hard.

Although people who regularly consume UPFs — due to individual or socioeconomic factors — may ignore the nutrition warning labels, there can be a subset of others who will think twice before buying a product.

Personally, I think these labels serve as a prominent reminder of the dangers of a particular product, providing a “Do you really want to do this to your health?” sort of reflection before I make a decision.

Given the imbalance of power that the modern consumer exists in amidst a late-stage capitalist — and increasingly corporatist — society, initiatives such as Health Canada’s front-of-package warning labels are definitely a step in the right direction.

However, this step is nowhere near the level of concerted efforts required from policy-makers, governments, and civil society to curb the prioritization of shareholders’ profits over the health of more than eight billion people.