The front-of-pack "high in" symbol: the lab numbers behind it

Since January 1, 2026, a box of crackers in Canada can carry a small black-and-white magnifying glass on the front with the words “High in sodium”. Whether it has to is a calculation, and the inputs to that calculation are lab numbers.

This piece goes through the rule from Health Canada’s own Front-of-package nutrition symbol labelling guide for industry, with an eye on what the lab result has to show.

When it applies

The requirement came into force on January 1, 2026. From that date, labels following the former requirements are no longer compliant, although product imported, made in Canada or packaged at retail before that date can still be sold (guide, section 2.1). Health Canada wrote the rule; CFIA enforces it (section 2.3).

The thresholds

The symbol is required when the amount of saturated fat, sugars or sodium meets or exceeds a percentage of the Daily Value (section 4):

Product	Threshold
Most prepackaged foods	≥ 15% DV
Reference amount of 30 g or 30 mL or less	≥ 10% DV
Main dishes with a reference amount of 200 g or more (170 g or more if only for children aged 1 to 4)	≥ 30% DV

For foods for children aged four and over and adults, the Daily Values in the guide’s worked example are 20 g for saturated fat, 100 g for sugars and 2,300 mg for sodium. Foods intended only for children aged one to four use a different column of the Table of Daily Values (Appendix 1).

So for a typical product, the line is 3 g saturated fat, 15 g sugars or 345 mg sodium in the quantity assessed. That is my arithmetic from the 15% threshold and those Daily Values.

Which quantity of food

This is the part that changes results. The quantity assessed is the serving of stated size or the reference amount for the product, whichever is greater (section 4.3, FDR B.01.350(2)).

Two consequences:

• A company cannot avoid the symbol by declaring a smaller serving. If the reference amount is larger, the reference amount is used.
• The 10% threshold for small reference amounts always applies to those products, even when their serving size is larger than 30 g (section 4.4).

There is one exception. A March 2025 interim policy says certain dense ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, like granola, are assessed on a 55 g reference amount, the amount typically eaten at once (section 4.3).

Rounding

Health Canada says there are no prescribed rounding rules for deciding whether a food meets the threshold, and that regulated parties should apply the rounding rules used for the % DV in the Nutrition Facts table. Its worked example uses unrounded saturated fat and sugars and rounded sodium, and says rounded content is also permitted (section 4.3; Appendix 1, footnote).

For a product sitting right at the line, the choice can decide whether the symbol appears. Pick an approach, write it down, and use it consistently across products.

Exemptions

Some products never need the symbol, such as shipping containers that are not sold to a consumer as a single unit (section 5.2). Others are conditionally exempt because of their health benefits, including (section 5.3.2.1):

• whole or cut fresh, frozen, canned or dried fruits and vegetables (but not juices, purées, pastes or powders, and not coconut)
• milk from any animal, liquid or powdered (but not plant-based beverages)
• whole eggs, including liquid, frozen or dried

The guide lists more, including a separate rule for fats and oils (section 5.4). Check the full list before deciding a product is exempt.

Where the lab comes in

The symbol decision rests on three numbers per quantity of food. For a product near a threshold, how good those numbers are matters:

1. Test the quantity the rule uses. Report saturated fat, sugars and sodium per reference amount or per serving, whichever is greater, not only per 100 g.
2. Know how close you are. A product at 14% DV for sodium is one formulation change or one variable batch away from the symbol. The same product, tested on a single unit, tells you little about the lot. CFIA’s nutrition compliance test uses composites of units for this reason, and I explained it in how CFIA checks a Nutrition Facts table.
3. Use methods validated for the matrix. Sugars and saturated fat methods behave differently across a cereal, a sauce and a confection.
4. Keep the label and the symbol consistent. Both come from the same nutrient values. A reformulated product needs both checked again.

Sources

• Health Canada. Front-of-package nutrition symbol labelling guide for industry: sections 2.1, 2.3, 4.2–4.4, 5.2, 5.3.2.1, 5.4 and Appendix 1. Retrieved 2 October 2026.

This summarises Health Canada’s published guidance; it is not a compliance opinion on any product. If your products sit close to a threshold and you want to know how much the testing can tell you, tell me the product type on LinkedIn.