. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/CAN/346 
29 September 2008  
 (08-4579) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English/ 
 French 
 
 
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 numb er(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  Meat and poultry products (I CS Code:  67.120, 67.220) 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable :  All 
trading partners 
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:  Interim Marketing 
Authorization regarding the use of sodium acetate as a preservative in standardized and 
unstandardized preparations of meat, meat by-products, poultry meat  and poultry meat by-
products, that have been cooke d or cured  (available in English and French, 2 pages) 
6. Description of content:  Health Canada has received a submission to permit the use of 
sodium acetate as a preservative in standardized and unstandardized preparations of meat, meat by-products, poultry meat and poultry meat by-products, that have been cooked or 
cured. This would include fresh and frozen prepared meals, sala ds, spreads and soups 
containing meat or poultry; flak es of meat; sausages of the ty pe salami, wiener, frankfurter, 
blood sausage, black pudding, blood pudding, bl ood and tongue sausage; potted meat; meat 
pâté; liver paste; liver spread; pâté de foie ; meat loaf; meat lunch; luncheon meat; cooked 
ham; corned beef; cooked meat roll; meat pie, brawn and headcheese, all at levels consistent 
with good manufacturing practice . Evaluation of available data supports the safety and 
effectiveness of sodium acetat e as a preservative in the production of thes e food products.  
Therefore, it is the intention of Health Canada to recommend that the Food and Drug 
Regulations  be amended to permit the use of sodium acetate as a preservative in certain 
standardized and unstandardize d foods containing cooked or cured meat, meat by-products, 
poultry meat, poultry meat by-products, as list ed above, at levels consistent with good 
manufacturing practice. 
As a means to improve the responsiveness of the regulatory system, an Interim Marketing 
Authorization (IMA) is being i ssued to permit the immediate use of sodium acetate in the 
production of standardized of flak es of meat; sausages of the ty pe salami, wiener, frankfurter, 
blood sausage, black pudding, blood pudding, bl ood and tongue sausage; potted meat; meat 
pâté; liver paste; liver spread; pâté de foie ; meat loaf; meat lunch; luncheon meat; cooked 
ham; corned beef; cooked meat roll; meat pie; brawn; headcheese; meat spread and unstandardized foods cont aining cooked or cured meat or poul try, at levels consistent with 
good manufacturing practice, whil e the regulatory process is undertaken to amend the 
Regulations. G/SPS/N/CAN/346 
Page 2  
 
  The proposed regulatory amendments would be enabling measures to allow the sale of 
additional foods containing sodium acetate as  a preservative. The amendments are supported 
by the safety assessment and would have low impact on the economy and the environment. 
Consequently, the regulatory amendments ma y proceed directly to  final approval and 
publication in the Canada Gazette , Part II. 
7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [   ] animal health,  [   ] plant protection, 
[ X ] 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 Plant 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:   Canada Gazette , 
Part I, 20 September 2008, Pages 2626-2627 (available in English and French) 
10. Proposed date of adoption:  Immediate for this IMA. For the final regulation, normally 
within 12-18 months of publication of the Noti ce of Interim Marketing Authorization in the 
Canada Gazette , Part I, 20 September 2008. 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  Immediate for this IMA. For the final regulation, 
normally within 12-18 months of publicati on of the Notice of Interim Marketing 
Authorization in the Canada Gazette , Part I, 20 September 2008. 
12. Final date for comments:  4 December 2008 
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: 
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National notifica tion authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: 
The electronic version of the regulator y text can be downloaded at:   
http://canadagazette.gc.c a/partI/2008/20080920/pdf/g1-14238.pdf  (Canada Gazette) 
or  http://canadagazette.gc.ca/part I/2008/20080920/html/notice-e.html#d101
 (English) 
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/part I/2008/20080920/html/notice-f.html#d101  (French)