Canadian Food and Drug Legislation & Commentary, 2025 Edition

Canada's Leading Compilation of Federal Food and Drug Laws
Food and drug legislation is a critical part of Canada's national regulatory framework. Consumers of foods, drugs, medical devices, and cosmetics, as well as cannabis products, look to this system to ensure that regulated products meet all health and safety standards. Thousands of professionals have a responsibility to interpret and apply the statutes and regulations in this particularly complex area of law.

Canadian Food and Drug Legislation & Commentary by Ben Fuhrmann and David Wood meets the research and reference needs of a growing group of such professionals. This unique compilation includes the most up-to-date Food and Drugs Act and all related federal statutes and regulations. A detailed index further simplifies your research.

The commentary, prepared by Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, which has one of Canada's largest product law practices, and R-Group Legal, a boutique law firm focused on intellectual property and regulatory law in cannabis and psychedelics, explains the legal framework and recent developments, and gives an overview of each part and division of the key legislation as follows:

• Food and Drugs Act and select regulations
• Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act and Regulations
• Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and Regulations
• Safe Food for Canadians Act and Regulations
• Cannabis Act and select regulations
• Pharmacare Act

Features and Benefits

• Chart form summaries of key elements of legislation – Helping you navigate highly complex legislation and understand technical terminology
• Appendix on references links – Directs you to extensive supplementary materials needed in daily practice, including web sites of organizations, agencies, and various branches of the Government of Canada
• Full text of key legislation – Have all pertinent legislation at your fingertips

Highlights of the 2025 Edition

• This edition includes extensive commentary on Health Canada’s modernization of its drug oversight framework (including generally during development, approval, labelling, and post-market monitoring and specifically over biologics), new and upcoming cosmetic labelling requirements, significant changes to the medical device voluntary recall framework, Health Canada’s new powers to respond to public health emergencies, the proposed new Controlled Drugs and Substances Regulations (2024), the Special Access Program to provide drugs not yet approved for sale for use in emergency treatment (including since commercially manufactured and quality-controlled psychedelic drugs became available in 2022), and the Cannabis Act and Cannabis Regulations
• All legislation fully updated, including recent amendments to:
  • Food and Drugs Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. F-27
  • Food and Drug Regulations, C.R.C., c. 870
  • Medical Devices Regulations, SOR/98-282
  • Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, S.C. 1996, c. 19
  • Safe Food for Canadians Act, S.C. 2012, c. 24
  • Safe Food for Canadians Regulations, SOR/2018-108
  • Cannabis Act, S.C. 2018, c. 16
  • Cannabis Regulations, SOR/2018-144
  • Pharmacare Act, S.C. 2024, c. 24

An Essential Reference Tool For:

• Lawyers advising in respect of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, cannabis, food and other regulated products or services
• Regulatory affairs consultants who assist manufacturers in regulated industries, including foods, pharmaceuticals, cannabis, and medical devices, as well as natural health products, food additives, and cosmetics, with submission processes, guidelines, and requirements
• Corporate counsel and regulatory affairs personnel at food, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, cannabis, and cosmetics companies who must ensure that product development, manufacturing, and marketing practices meet or exceed government requirements