It is the companies' responsibility to make sure that the nutrient values are accurate. Most large food service companies will have support from corporate offices to determine the appropriate methods to comply with the legislation.
There are different ways to determine caloric values of food items, such as laboratory analysis, nutrition analysis software or credible databases. According to the Health Menu Choices Act and regulations, this is to be done by either:
1. Testing by a laboratory: The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) provides a list of accredited laboratories that owners/operators can contact to discuss nutritional analysis needs. A list of approved laboratories will not be created or supplied by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care or local health units.
2. A nutrient analysis method that will provide accurate results. The information below will provide some guidance:
- Use of Nutrition Facts Table on packaged foods that comply with the nutrition labelling requirements of the Food and Drug Regulations.
- Nutrient information from cookbooks or supplier information, as long as the values in the cookbook were derived from a nutrient analysis method or laboratory analysis.
- Health Canada guide for determining accurate nutrition information of food and beverage items.
- Health Canada Nutrient Values of Some Common Foods to determine caloric values for common food ingredients.
- Health Canada Canadian Nutrient File containing common nutrient values for common foods in Canada.You can search by food item.
- Guidance about selecting nutrient analysis software.