. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/CAN/91 
17 March 2004 
 (04-1184) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original: English/ 
 French 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   CANADA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   Department of Health 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:   Canadian Enquiry 
Point, 200-270 Albert Street, Ottawa, Onta rio, Canada, K1P 6N7 Tel.:  +1 613 238 3222, 
Fax.:  +1 613 569 7808, E-mail:  info@scc.ca 
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:         
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in  addition, where applicable):   Erythritol 
(ICS:  67.220.20) 
5. Title, number of pages and langua ge(s) of the notified document:   Proposed Amendment 
to the Food and Drug Regulations (1242 - Erythritol) (English and French;  pages 618-620) 
6. Description of content:   
 
 Health Canada has received a submission to permit the use of a new sugar alcohol, 
erythritol, as a carrier for intense sweeteners in table-top sweeteners and as a sweetener in dietetic beverages, fat-based cream fillings and toppings, dietetic cookies and wafers, soft 
and hard candies, and chewing gum at various  maximum levels of use specified in the 
proposed amendments.  Evaluation of available data supports the safety and effectiveness of 
these uses of erythritol.  Similar applications of this food additive are already permitted in 
the United States, Japan and Australia.   
 Under the current Regulations, all f ood products containi ng permitted sugar 
alcohols and/or polydextrose must provide information on the label to indicate the total content of these substances in the food expressed in grams per serving of stated size.  The 
proposed new section B.01.021 describes the labelli ng requirement for eryt hritol that would 
apply to products whose label does not carry a Nu trition Facts table.  It should be noted that 
in this case, as required by the current Regulations, the statement of the amount of 
polydextrose added to the product must be gr ouped together with the statement for sugar 
alcohols.    In the case of products whose label ca rries a Nutrition Facts table, subsection 
B.01.402(6) and item 12 of the table to section B.01.402 of the Regulations require that the G/TBT/N/CAN/91 
Page 2  
 
Nutrition Facts table show the amount of sugar alcohols, including erythritol, added to the 
product.  The declaration of polydextrose is not included in the Nutrition Facts table and 
must be made separately in accordance with  the regulatory requirements for nutrition 
labelling.   
 Therefore, it is proposed to amend the Regulations to permit the use of erythritol in 
the above-named foods at the specified maximum levels of use and to require that the label 
of a food product containing erythritol indicate the amount of erythritol added to the product 
expressed in grams per serving of stated size.   
 This document has also been notified under the SPS Agreement. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
Protection of human health 
8. Relevant documents:   Canada Gazette, Part I, 13 March 2004 
9. Proposed date of adoption:  Normally within 5 to 8 months of publication in the 
Canada Gazette, Part I. 
Proposed date of entry into force:  On the date the measure is adopted 
10. Final date for comments:   3 June 2004 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses,  if available of the other body:  The electronic 
version of the regulatory text can be downloaded at:  
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partI/2004/20040313/pdf/g1-13811.pdf 
 