. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/CAN/290 
3 August 2007  
 (07-3325) 
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 (1158 — 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 or new levels of use of the following food additives that 
are already listed in the Tables to Division 16 of Part B of these Regulations:  
 - calcium sulphate as a bindin g agent in a blend of prepared fish or meat as described 
in paragraph B.21.006(n) of the Regulations , for example surimi, to enhance the gel 
forming capabilities of the product throughout its shelf life, at a maximum level of 
use of 0.06%; and 
 - to increase the permitted level of use of sorbitol in a blend of prepared fish or meat 
as described in paragraph B.21.006(n) of the Regulations to provide the desired 
sweetening effect;  the level would be increased from 3.5% to 6.0%. 
As a means to improve the responsiveness of the regulatory system, Interim Marketing 
Authorizations (IMA) 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 30 anuary 1999, for calcium sulphate in surimi; and 
 - on 25 August 2001, for sorbitol in a blend of prepared fish and prepared meat as 
 described in paragraph B.21.006(n). 
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. 
 G/SPS/N/CAN/290 
Page 2  
 
  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 445-448 (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. 
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: 
13. Texts available from:  [   ] 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 re gulatory text can be downloaded at: 
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partII/2007/20070502/html/sor76-e.html  (English) 
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partII/2007/20070502/html/sor76-f.html  (French) 
 http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partII/2007/20070502/pdf/g2-14109.pdf
 (SOR/2007-76)