Canada Allows Higher Vitamin D Fortification in Plant-based Beverages

In May, Health Canada revised the Interim Policy on the Use of Expired Interim Marketing Authorizations Related to Food Fortification.¹ According to the revised regulation, fortified plant-based beverages are allowed to contain more vitamin D than the amount permitted in the previous regulation. 

Major Content 

The previous regulation permitted the addition of vitamins and mineral nutrients to these products so that they could be used as nutritionally adequate alternatives to cow's milk by people who do not drink milk, for instance, due to allergies to milk protein or lactose intolerance. For example, plant-based beverages were allowed to contain the same amount of vitamin D as the amount prescribed in the Food and Drug Regulations (FDR) for cow's milk and goat's milk.

Health Canada recognizes that it needs to increase vitamin D fortification of foods to help Canadians meet their vitamin D requirements. As the first step, in January 2022, a Marketing Authorization (MA) was published to permit cow's milk, goat's milk and margarine to contain approximately double the vitamin D amount prescribed in the FDR. The MA is an interim measure until amendments are made to the FDR. Since fortified plant-based beverages are consumed by many Canadians as cow's milk alternatives and now cow's milk is allowed to contain more vitamin D pursuant to the MA, there is a strong public health rationale to permit an identical vitamin D increase in these beverages.

Therefore, as long as other conditions of the previous regulation are satisfied, manufacturers may increase the amount of vitamin D in ready-to-serve fortified plant-based beverages to 2 µg/100 mL, the same amount of vitamin D that cow's milk and goat's milk are allowed to contain.

Plant-based Beverages in Canada 

Attributed to the presence of major plant-based food manufacturers, the measures to develop meat and dairy alternatives with a favorable ecological footprint, and the initiatives undertaken by the government, the plant-based food and beverage market has been growing rapidly, and is evaluated to grow with a CAGR of 10.22% from 2021 to 2026.² Recent data shows that two-thirds (67%) of Canadians consume plant-based foods frequently, and 31% of Canadians plan to eat more plant-based foods within the next year.³ Now with this revised regulation, plant-based beverages with a higher level of vitamin D are expected to further boost the market.