Costs
The Health Check program is run on a not-for-profit, cost-recovery basis and remains financially independent from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the federal government. Health Check is self-supporting through fees from participating companies. However, to join Health Check, products must first meet the nutrient criteria. As a not-for-profit program, any surplus funds are reinvested in nutrition education and research. Health Check is not a fund-raiser for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
Fees
To ensure that the program is widely accessible to all companies small or large, fees are modest and kept as low as possible. The expenses involved in the production, promotion and sale of food are substantial. To ensure the program is not used to leverage increased food prices, the fee structure is very low in relation to the cost of marketing and distributing a food product. The fee structure considers many variables such as the number of product formulations (recipes/flavours) and sizes, and markets (regions) in which the product is available.
There are two components to fees: product evaluation fees and product licensing fees. The product evaluation fee is a one-time fee applied when the product is initially registered and covers the cost of evaluation and certification. To encourage additional product participation and limit potential costs to food companies there are set limits on licensing fees. The annual licensing fee structure is based on a sliding scale taking into consideration:
- The region(s) where the product is sold.
- The number of products or formats each company has in the program.
| Fees | Per SKU | Category / Corporate Maximum |
| Evaluation fee: Cost of evaluation and certificationOne-time feeDepends on number of items submitted | $150 – $700 | Same for all companies |
| Licensing fee: Program cost and promotionAnnualDepends on regional distribution | $1,225 – $3,625 | Category Max: $16,500 – $49,500 (14+ products in one food category)Corporate Max: $66,000 – $180,00 (4+ food categories) |
| Licensing fee for small companies (sales less than $1,000,000 annually) Evaluation fee is the same – annual | This fee is based on 0.49% of net sales of each participating product with a minimum fee of $300 per item |
