WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/CAN/291 
3 August 2007  
 (07-3326) 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
 
 
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  CANADA   
If applicable, name of local government involved:    
2. Agency responsible:  Health Canada 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  Food additives (ICS: 67.220) 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable :  Not 
stated. 
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Regulations Amending 
the Food and Drug Regulations (1082 — Food Additives) (available in English and French, 
4 pages) 
6. Description of content:  Health Canada has received submissions to amend the Food and 
Drug Regulations to permit new uses of the following food additives that are already listed in 
the Tables to Division 16 of Part B of these Regulations:  
 - sunset yellow FCF as a colouring ag ent in cheese-flavoured corn snacks at a 
maximum level of use of 600 parts per million (p.p.m.) if used singly; if used in combination with other synthetic food colours, the maximum level of use is 300 
p.p.m. in accordance with paragraph B.06.002(c) of the Regulations; 
 - propylene glycol mono fatty acid esters  (propylene glycol monostearate) as an 
emulsifying agent in ice cream at a maximum level of use of 0.35%; sorbitan 
tristearate as an emulsifying agent in unst andardized frozen desserts and ice cream at 
a maximum level of use of 0.035%; 
 - sorbitan monostearate as an emulsifying agent in puddings at a maximum level of 
use of 0.5%; 
 - powdered cellulose as a bulking agent in the following foods at the respective 
maximum levels of use: (1) Batter and breading - 1%, (2) Canapé toast - 2%, (3) 
Confectionery (calorie-reduced) - 25%, (4) Unstandardized edible ices - 3%, (5) Fillings - 0.5%, (6) Foods sold in tablet form - 50%, (7) Icings - 1%, (8) Seasonings - 
3%, (9) Sweet baked goods - 8%; and 
 - sodium bisulphate as a pH adjusting agent in unstandardized bakery products at a 
maximum level of use consistent with good manufacturing practice. 
 
  G/SPS/N/CAN/291 
Page 2  
 
   
As a means to improve the responsiveness of the regulatory system, Interim Marketing 
Authorizations (IMAs) were issued to permit the immediate use of these food additives.  They 
were published in the "Government Notices" section of the Canada Gazette , Part I, as 
follows: 
 - on 29 November 1997 for sunset yellow FCF; 
 - on 28 August 1999 and 3 November 2001 for powdered cellulose; 
 - on 17 November 2001 for sorbitan monostearate; 
 - on 5 January 2002 for propylene glycol monostearate and sorbitan tristearate;  and 
 - on 30 March 2002 for sodium bisulphate. These IMAs were issued prior to June 2002, the date when Canada began to notify its IMAs.  
At the time that these IMAs were issued, it  was anticipated that WTO notification would 
occur later when the appropriate regulatory amendments were published in the Canada 
Gazette , Part I.  However, in July 2006, the Ca nadian regulatory process was modified to 
permit regulatory amendments having low significance when assessed against a triage framework to proceed directly to final approval and publication in Canada Gazette , Part II. 
The IMAs noted above are enablin g measures as they allow th e sale of additional foods 
containing the food additive, or the sale of food containing the food additive at higher levels 
than previously permitted.  No concerns or issues have been identified by Canada’s trading 
partners since the IMAs were issued.  Acco rdingly, these regulatory amendments were 
considered to be of low significance and were permitted to proceed directly to the Canada 
Gazette , Part II. 
Therefore, the Food and Drug Regulations have been amended to permit the use of the food 
additives mentioned above in the specified applications. 
These IMAs were revoked on 2 May 2007, the date on which these amendments came into 
force.  
7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [   ] animal health,  [   ] plant protection, [  
 ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease,  [   ] protect territory from other 
damage from pests    
8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:  
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [   ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plan t Protection Convention, [ X ] None  
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:    
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:   C a n a d a  G a z e t t e ,  
Part II, 2 May 2007, Pages 441-444 (available in English and French) 
10. Proposed date of adoption:  Immediate when the IMAs were initially issued.  For the final 
regulation, the Regulations were adopted 2 May 2007. 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  Immediate when the IMAs were initially issued.  For the 
final regulation, the Regulations were adopted 2 May 2007.  G/SPS/N/CAN/291 
 Page 3 
 
 
  12. Final date for comments:  This document is not for comment.  
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [   ] National notification 
authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body: 
The electronic version of the adopted regu latory text can be downloaded at:   
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partII/2007/20070502/html/sor75-e.html  (English) 
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partII/2007/20070502/html/sor75-f.html   (French) 
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partII/2007/20070502/pdf/g2-14109.pdf  (SOR/2007-75) 
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National notification authority, [   ] National enquiry point, or 
address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: