regulations amending the food and drug regulations 1158 - food additives health canada has received submissions to amend the food and drug regulations to permit new uses or new levels of use of the following food additives that are already listed in the tables to division 16 of part b of these regulations - calcium sulphate as a binding agent in a blend of prepared fish or meat as described in paragraph b.21.006 n of the regulations for example surimi to enhance the gel forming capabilities of the product throughout its shelf life at a maximum level of use of 0.06 and - to increase the permitted level of use of sorbitol in a blend of prepared fish or meat as described in paragraph b.21.006 n of the regulations to provide the desired sweetening effect the level would be increased from 3.5 to 6.0 . as a means to improve the responsiveness of the regulatory system interim marketing authorizations ima were issued to permit the immediate use of these food additives. they were published in the government notices section of the canada gazette part i as follows - on 30 anuary 1999 for calcium sulphate in surimi and - on 25 august 2001 for sorbitol in a blend of prepared fish and prepared meat as described in paragraph b.21.006 n . these imas were issued prior to june 2002 the date when canada began to notify its imas. at the time that these imas were issued it was anticipated that wto notification would occur later when the appropriate regulatory amendments were published in the canada gazette part i. however in july 2006 the canadian regulatory process was modified to permit regulatory amendments having low significance when assessed against a triage framework to proceed directly to final approval and publication in canada gazette part ii. the imas noted above are enabling measures as they allow the sale of additional foods containing the food additive or the sale of food containing the food additive at higher levels than previously permitted. no concerns or issues have been identified by canadas trading partners since the imas were issued. accordingly these regulatory amendments were considered to be of low significance and were permitted to proceed directly to the canada gazette part ii. therefore the food and drug regulations have been amended to permit the use of the food additives mentioned above in the specified applications. these imas were revoked on 2 may 2007 the date on which these amendments came into force.