Canada updating official definition of beer

Announced June 17, 2017 in the Canada Gazette, a notice of intent to amend the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s official definition of beer is coming to the Food and Drug Regulations.

The update is intended to clarify and update beer compositional standards to reflect innovation and market developments stemming from industry consultation during 2014-2015.

A compositional standard sets out what ingredients a product must contain, what ingredients a product may contain and any requirements of manufacturing such as fermentation, plus technical or food safety requirements.

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Proposed changes:

Definition of beer

The proposal would include allowance for other micro-organisms (e.g. bacteria) in addition to yeast in the fermentation starter culture. In addition, the proposed changes would remove the subjective “aroma, taste and characteristic” statement in the definition and replace it with a measurable, objective requirement (i.e. maximum 4% by weight of residual sugar in the final product). The types of malted cereals that can be used in a standardized beer would not change. A standardized beer must contain either barley or wheat malt. It may also contain additional grains (e.g. sorghum) as a source of carbohydrate matter. The exclusive use of other grains, such as sorghum used in gluten-free beers, would result in these products not being considered standardized beer. While these products could not be sold, labelled or advertised as beer in Canada, these gluten-free beverages would still be available for consumers as an unstandardized alcoholic beverage.

Maximum percentage of residual sugar

It is anticipated that the proposed changes would add the requirement for beer to contain no more than 4% by weight of residual sugars in the final product offered for sale to consumers. For testing purposes, sugars would include all monosaccharides and disaccharides. This would partly replace the requirement for beer to “possess the aroma, taste and character commonly attributed to beer”, which is considered to be subjective and fails to recognize that different beer types or styles have different attributes. The proposed residual sugar requirement would provide a measurable objective measurement. A maximum residual sugar content of 4% by weight would be proposed in order to maintain the integrity of beer versus sweeter alcoholic beverages that are also based on barley or wheat cereal grains.

Previously, the CFIA and Beer Canada had proceeded with testing speciality beers in order to have concrete results on sugar percentages. The 80 beers chosen for testing had been identified during the public consultation as potentially exceeding the proposed limit for residual sugar. Results of the testing indicated that a residual sugar limit of 4% would help to define beer versus malt-based beverages, which contain higher proportions of sweetening ingredients, and the majority of beers tested would not exceed the residual sugar limit. However, a small percentage of beers labelled as “barleywine” and certain flavoured beers might be excluded under the proposed standard.

Food additives

A food additive is any chemical substance that is added to food during preparation or storage and either becomes a part of the food or affects its characteristics for the purpose of achieving a particular technical effect. The food additive or its by-products become part of the food. While the current beer standard contains a list of permitted additives, in April 2012, Health Canada changed the way in which food additives were approved and listed for use in food products. Health Canada no longer makes regulatory amendments to food additives in food standards provisions, but rather proceeds with updating the Lists of permitted food additives, which are maintained on the Health Canada website. Each of the 15 lists is incorporated by reference into a marketing authorization. Marketing authorizations are ministerial regulations that set out the conditions and legal foundation for the use of the lists under the Food and Drug Regulations.

Maintaining a list of permitted additives in the beer standard creates a dual source of information that might appear to be contradictory, and can be confusing for some brewers who may be unfamiliar with where to access this information. The proposed changes would remove the food additives currently listed in the beer compositional standards and replace them with a general provision that allows for the use of permitted food additives. This would align the beer compositional standards with Health Canada’s current approach of updating the Lists of permitted food additives. This approach is also aligned with the Government of Canada’s intent to reduce the regulatory burden for the industry. The food additives permitted for use in standardized beer would not change under this proposal.

Some non-standardized alcoholic beverages may become standardized beer under the proposed changes. The list of permitted food additives for non-standardized alcoholic beverages differs from those permitted for standardized beer. Brewers of non-standardized alcoholic beverages may lose the ability to use some additives in their products and would have to apply to Health Canada to have the additives assessed for use in standardized beer.

Processing aids

A food processing aid is a substance that is used for a technical effect in food processing or manufacture, the use of which does not affect the intrinsic characteristics of the food and results in no or negligible residues of the substance or its by-products in or on the finished food (i.e. antifoaming agents used during manufacturing). The intent of the proposal would be to remove the listed processing aids from the standard. The Food and Drug Regulations do not typically list processing aids in compositional standards, with the exception of the standards for beer, wine, honey wine and pectin. Removal of the listed processing aids from the beer compositional standard would be consistent with the other standards and would allow for increased innovation in processing and brewing without increasing risks to food safety.

Carbohydrate matter

The proposed changes would provide clarification around the use of “carbohydrate matter.” In 2012, the CFIA developed guidance material in response to confusion under the current beer standard. The guidance explains that the term “carbohydrate matter” is intended to mean an ingredient whose single largest component is carbohydrate and which is used to assist in fermentation, or to enhance the flavour, body, or colour of the product. The proposal would further clarify what is meant by “carbohydrate” and indicate that any source of carbohydrates could be added at any time during manufacturing (e.g. including post fermentation).

Herbs and spices

The proposed changes to the beer compositional standard would clearly specify that herbs and spices can be added to beer. Herbs and spices are permitted under the existing compositional standards under the term carbohydrate matter; this proposed change would provide additional clarity.

Flavouring preparations

The proposed changes to the beer compositional standard would allow the use of flavouring preparations in beer to allow for innovation. It is proposed that the use of a flavouring preparation would trigger an additional requirement for a mandatory declaration on the label as part of the common name (e.g. beer with blueberry flavour). This would clearly identify to consumers that flavouring preparations were added to a beer without hindering product innovation for brewers.

Repeal the standard for ale, stout, porter and malt liquor

The intent would be to repeal the standard for ale, stout, porter and malt liquor in its entirety to eliminate the duplication with the beer standard, as it allows for the same ingredients as beer. This would result in one standard for all beer types or styles. Ale, stout, porter and malt liquor are defined by the industry as types or styles of beer. The current standards do not reflect the hundreds of types or styles currently available in the marketplace. The use of the terms ale, stout, porter or malt liquor or any other term used to describe a type or style of beer can be voluntarily added to the label of the standardized beer to provide additional information to the consumer.

Allergen, gluten and sulphite labelling

Currently, standardized beer is exempt from the allergen, gluten and sulphite labelling requirements of the Food and Drug Regulations. It is one of the prepackaged foods that are exempt from these requirements. The proposed changes to the beer compositional standard allow for the introduction of ingredients not previously permitted in the manufacturing of standardized beer which could include allergens. The risks associated with these allergens would be addressed through the amendment of the Food and Drug Regulations to protect the health and safety of the consumer and to enable informed consumer decisions.

A public commenting and feedback period is now open – changes may be implemented by Spring 2018.

For full details and additional information please visit the Canada Gazette.