Health Canada has completed its assessment of an industry stakeholder request concerning the use of sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas on fresh grapes during storage and transport. As a result of this assessment, there has been a reclassification of sulfur dioxide under certain scenarios. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has updated the labeling requirements for fresh grapes accordingly.
When sulfur dioxide is used during storage and transport of prepackaged fresh grapes, other than consumer prepackaged (i.e. shipping or master containers), CFIA classifies sulfur dioxide as a food additive. This results in the requirement to have sulphites declared on the list of ingredients. This requirement to declare sulphites is mandatory, regardless of the concentration.
For consumer prepackaged fresh grapes at retail, the requirement to declare sulphites on the list of ingredients if the fresh grapes were treated with sulfur dioxide gas is based on the residual level of sulphites present on the grapes at time of retail. This is a result of CFIA classifying sulfur dioxide as either a food additive or a processing aid based on the residual level of sulphites.
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Source: apps.fas.usda.gov