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Canada label requirements: bilingual labels and the “High in” symbol

Prepackaged food sold in Canada follows the Food and Drug Regulations and the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations; other consumer goods follow the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act. Mandatory information is in both English and French. Since 1 January 2026 most prepackaged food high in saturated fat, sugars or sodium also carries the black-and-white “High in” symbol on the front.

Checked: 29 October 2026

Mandatory items

Bilingual, metric

The common name and the net quantity go on the principal display panel; the ingredient list, the allergen statement, the Nutrition Facts table, the durable life date and the dealer’s name and address go anywhere on the label except the bottom. Every mandatory item is in English and French; the net quantity is metric. Durable life dates use the bilingual month codes (JA, FE, MR, AL, MA, JN, JL, AU, SE, OC, NO, DE).

The front-of-package nutrition symbol

Since 1 January 2026, food that meets or exceeds 15% of the daily value of saturated fat, sugars or sodium per serving (10% for small servings, 30% for main dishes) shows the magnifying-glass symbol “High in / Élevé en” with the nutrients named, on the principal display panel, at the size Health Canada’s directory sets. Some foods are exempt, such as plain milk, fruit and vegetables, and small packs.

Quebec

Under the Charter of the French Language as amended by Bill 96, from 1 June 2025 French must be at least as prominent on products sold in Quebec, and the generic words inside a trademark must be translated.

Why the rules look like this

Canada’s labels carry two languages and, now, a warning — each the result of a national decision:

1. 1974 — the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act makes English and French mandatory on consumer goods. Every Canadian pack is designed twice the width it would be in one language.
2. 2012 — enhanced allergen labelling names sources plainly and adds gluten and sulphites, after confusion over terms such as “spices”.
3. 2022 — Health Canada publishes the front-of-package regulations in July, with three and a half years to comply; the same year Quebec adopts Bill 96, strengthening French on products from June 2025.
4. 2026 — the “High in” magnifying glass becomes mandatory on 1 January. Brands reformulated to stay below the thresholds; the symbol on a pack is the sign a recipe was not changed.

Seasons that sell packs

Thanksgiving in October, the holidays in December and Easter shape the confectionery and gift calendar, as in the United States but bilingual — a seasonal sleeve needs French as much as the box does. Maple products peak in spring, with the sugaring-off season in Quebec.

Who answers for the label

The dealer named on the label and, for imports, the licence holder under the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations; retailers must not sell food they know to be mislabelled.

The designer and the printer are not named by these laws — but a contract can make them pay for the reprint. Keep the client’s written approval of the final copy; Drint’s review link records it.

If the label is wrong

The CFIA can order a recall, refuse or detain imports, suspend licences under the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations and impose administrative monetary penalties; prosecution is possible for serious cases. Missing allergens are the most frequent cause of Canadian food recalls. In Quebec, the Office québécois de la langue française can fine a company for every day French is missing or not prominent enough, and Bill 96 raised those fines sharply.

Who else loses, beyond the fine

A wrong label costs more than its fine, and the cost travels down the chain:

1. The shopper — an undeclared allergen can put someone in hospital; that is why recalls for allergens move fastest.
2. The brand — a recall notice with its name stays online for years, and retailers may delist the product.
3. The importer and distributor — stock held at the port or in a warehouse, storage fees, relabelling labour, sometimes a whole container sent back.
4. The shop — products immobilised or pulled from shelves in the middle of a season.
5. The printer — a reprint at its own cost if the contract says so, and a lost client either way.
6. The designer — the reprint blamed on the artwork, unless the client’s approval is on record.

Net quantity: minimum type height by panel area

Other mandatory text is at least 1.6 mm high, measured on a lower-case “x” where the regulations say so.

The figures of the net quantity are at least:

1. 1.6 mm on a principal display surface of 32 cm² or less;
2. 3.2 mm over 32 and up to 258 cm²;
3. 6.4 mm over 258 and up to 645 cm²;
4. 9.5 mm over 645 and up to 2,580 cm²;
5. 12.7 mm over 2,580 cm².

“Product of Canada” and other mistakes

“Product of Canada” means all or virtually all (98% or more) of the food’s cost is Canadian; “Made in Canada” needs the last substantial transformation in Canada and a qualifier such as “from imported ingredients”. The usual problems: French missing on a back-panel item; a best-before date in English month names only; the “High in” symbol drawn by hand instead of from Health Canada’s artwork.

1. Set every mandatory item in English and French.
2. Put the common name and metric net quantity on the principal display panel.
3. Work out the “High in” symbol from the Nutrition Facts and use the official artwork at its size.
4. Write the best-before date with the bilingual month codes.
5. Choose “Product of Canada” or “Made in Canada” to fit the rules, or leave it out.

Worked example: a 200 g box of butter cookies

Made in Vietnam and sold in Canada, the pack reads, line by line (the client’s own names and numbers replace those in brackets):

1. BUTTER COOKIES / BISCUITS AU BEURRE
2. 200 g
3. Ingredients: wheat flour, butter, sugar, eggs, salt, sodium bicarbonate. / Ingrédients : farine de blé, beurre, sucre, œufs, sel, bicarbonate de sodium.
4. Contains: wheat, milk, egg. / Contient : blé, lait, œuf.
5. [HIGH IN SAT FAT, SUGARS / ÉLEVÉ EN GRAS SATURÉS, SUCRES — if the values reach the thresholds]
6. Imported by / Importé par : [name, address in Canada]
7. Product of Vietnam / Produit du Vietnam
8. Nutrition Facts / Valeur nutritive, per [ ] cookies ([ ] g)

Why it reads this way

The cookies keep longer than 90 days, so no best-before date is required (one may be added); the “High in” symbol is likely for butter cookies and is worked out per serving.

How Drint helps

Three kinds of people make packs for Canada with Drint, and each needs something different:

Free, no account: the barcode generator, the mm to inches converter and the paper sizes table.

1. A business with its own brand — Drint has no label kit for Canada yet, so the checklist on this page is your check before export. See the pack in 3D before it is printed, send the design to the person who must approve it with a review link, and hand the printer one CMYK PDF/X-4 with the die on its own layer, so nobody retypes the label.
2. A household business — start from a ready dieline cut to your exact box or bag size instead of paying for a die drawing, use your own photos on 3D mockups for your online shop, and keep the mandatory text exactly as you wrote it: Drint never translates or rewords a client’s copy.
3. A designer — lay out several markets from one design, each with its own language and items, keep every client’s approvals in one place, and show finished packs on a portfolio page at drint.io/your-name.

Laying it out in Drint

1. Drint has no label kit for Canada yet: add a text block for each item of the table above, in the order the law lists them.
2. Paste the client’s copy as they wrote it — Drint does not translate or reword it.
3. Place official marks (symbols, numbers, logos) from the authority’s own files at their stated size; export the CMYK PDF/X-4 with the die on its own layer for your printer.

Official sources

1. CFIA — Industry Labelling Tool
2. Food and Drug Regulations (C.R.C., c. 870)
3. Office québécois de la langue française

Drint checks this label while you design, for 47 countries: see how the label-law check works.

Lay out the label in Drint

Questions

A summary written to design packs, not legal advice. Check the CFIA Industry Labelling Tool, Health Canada’s front-of-package guidance and, for Quebec, the Office québécois de la langue française before printing.