Thank you for the question.
These regulations are clearly intended to make sure that Canadians with food allergies or gluten intolerances can limit the risk of inadvertently consuming a food product--particularly a pre-packaged food--with the culprit ingredient to which they are allergic or intolerant not being declared.
We currently have mandatory requirements for ingredient labelling, but there are some areas where these requirements may lead to omitting the declaration of an allergen or a gluten source. So those regulations are clearly meant to stop those instances from happening.
For example, when you have a spice mixture there is no requirement right now to have the composition of the spices declared. While we're not changing that, the requirement will make sure that if there is an allergenic substance in that mixture, only that substance will have to be declared. It cannot be omitted.
There is another objective being pursued. Food-allergic consumers, their caregivers, and their families do not shop with a dictionary. So we're trying to make sure the information is easily accessible to consumers and there are simple words that have to be recognized in considering whether or not to buy or consume that product. So terminology like “beta-lactoglobulin” for milk will have to be accompanied in a mandatory fashion with the word “milk”.
So those are some of the elements being pursued through these allergen labelling regulations.