Health Committee on May 6th, 2010

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

I call the meeting to order.

Welcome to the committee.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), this is our study on Health Canada's trans fat monitoring program. The witnesses today are Paul Hetherington, from the Baking Association of Canada; Ron Reaman, from the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association; Dr. Samuel Godefroy and Dr. William Yan, from the Department of Health; Phyllis Tanaka, from Food and Consumer Products of Canada; Sally Brown, from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada; and Sean McPhee and Doug Sparks, from the Vegetable Oil Industry of Canada.

We have a full complement of witnesses today. We're going to have five-minute presentations from each organization. We're going to begin with Dr. Godefroy.

[Dr. Samuel Godefroy, Director General, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health]

Thank you, Madam Chair and honourable members. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to come before you today and discuss the trans fat monitoring program and the progress that has been made to date toward meeting our public health objectives to reduce trans fat levels in the Canadian food supply.

By the mid 1990s, Health Canada researchers estimated that Canadians had one of the highest average intakes of trans fat in the world, at approximately 8.4 grams per day or 3.7% of energy.

As you know, the consumption of trans fat affects blood cholesterol levels in a negative way, raising LDL levels, the “bad cholesterol“, and lowering HDL levels, the “good cholesterol“, which can lead to increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

Health Canada took early action to help Canadians reduce the amount of trans fat they were consuming and to support the reduction of trans fat in the Canadian food supply.

The approach was multi-faceted and started with the implementation of the nutrition labelling regulations in 2006, which included the mandatory declaration of trans fat in the nutrition facts table of most prepackaged foods. Canada was the first country in the world to require the labelling of trans fat as part of the nutrition facts table.

To complement the objectives of the mandatory labelling initiative, the new Canada's Food Guide, which was released in February 2007, included information on the importance of limiting trans fat and saturated fat in the diet.

Health Canada also recognized that to meet our public health objectives for Canadians to have consumption levels of trans fat fall below the recommendations of the World Health Organization of two grams per day or less than 1% of overall energy intake, more concerted efforts would be required. The establishment of the trans fat task force was an important step forward in determining how we might best achieve this specific objective.

In June 2007 the Minister of Health announced that Health Canada would adopt the task force recommendation of limiting the trans fat levels to 2% of total fat in vegetable oils and soft spreadable margarines and 5% in other foods, and that it would give the food industry two years to meet these limits.

In conjunction with this announcement, Health Canada launched the trans fat monitoring program. This program was designed to monitor the food industry's progress in meeting the challenge of reducing trans fat. The program monitored certain food products and segments of the food service industry that traditionally had higher levels of trans fat in their products. The monitoring program focused on prepackaged food; bakery products and desserts; margarines, both soft and hard; shortenings; and foods from quick-service chains, ethnic restaurants, and cafeterias located in institutions and family restaurants.

Over the past two years, Health Canada published the collected data approximately every seven months, with the last set published in December 2009. Overall, the results obtained from the trans fat monitoring program indicated that industry has made progress in reducing trans fat in their products while not increasing saturated fats. The food industry has been able to reduce trans fat levels to some degree in all food categories, particularly in prepackaged foods, for which nutrition fact tables are mandatory.

Through the data collected, we can now estimate that trans fat intake for Canadians has decreased from an average of five grams per day in 2005, or 2% of energy, to 3.4 grams per day, or 1.4% of energy. However, in some areas we have not seen the same degree of success as with prepackaged foods, such as in the restaurant and food service sector, where it is more difficult to control the level of trans fat in the final products.

To meet our public health targets, more work needs to be done. Health Canada is exploring the best combination of approaches, both regulatory and non-regulatory, to ultimately reduce Canadians' trans fat consumption to the recommendations of the World Health Organization. Health Canada sees the value of a regulatory approach, which may be especially beneficial in controlling the level of trans fat in oils used by the food service industry.

As a responsible food safety regulator, Health Canada will also strive to ensure that replacement options for trans fat are available and are safe.

Over the next few months, Health Canada will continue to engage industry and stakeholder groups to further refine our analysis of potential options. We will be confirming our understanding of how the regulated industry may be impacted and what transition challenges may exist.

Health Canada is committed to using the most effective tools available to reduce Canadians' intake of trans fat and achieve our public health goals.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you very much.

Now we'll go to the Baking Association of Canada. I don't think I've ever had the Baking Association of Canada on my committee, but it sounds delicious.

Go ahead, Ms. Leslie.

[Megan Leslie, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Before we continue, we have received a lot of documentation. If the witnesses are referring to any of it, could you let us know which piece, so that we can follow along?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you for reminding me about that, Ms. Leslie.

If you have any documents in front of you, would you please refer to the document you're reading or referring to.

Anyway, that said, we have Mr. Hetherington.

[Paul Hetherington, President and Chief Executive Officer, Baking Association of Canada]

Thank you, Chair.

I apologize; I didn't bring any samples. I'm often asked that when I appear before committees.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Now that you've said that, I'm going to save you to last.

[Paul Hetherington]

Thank you, Chair, and good morning to members of the committee.

My name is Paul Hetherington. I'm president and CEO of the Baking Association of Canada. We are pleased to appear before the committee on the subject of trans fat reformulation.

As a refresher about our organization, BAC is a not-for-profit trade association representing independent retail, commercial, food service, and in-store bakeries. Members produce two specific types of products: breads and rolls, and indulgence foods such as cakes, pastries, cookies, icings, etc. Baking is an approximately $5 billion industry in this country, directly employing some 50,000 workers nationwide.

From the outset of consultations on this issue, BAC supported an orderly replacement of trans fats in the food supply. We believe a long-term solution is required, one in which trans fats are replaced by alternatives that are low in trans fat and low in saturated fat, which is unfortunately not currently the case.

I think it is also relevant to revisit how trans fat became so prevalent in our food supply. Beginning in the 1960s, consumers were advised by health groups and governments to avoid highly saturated fats due to their contribution to coronary heart disease. Responding to these strong statements, bakers reformulated from highly saturated animal fats, such as lard and beef tallow, to partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening, which is lower in saturated fat. A generation later we learned that the use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils produces a worse health outcome than highly saturated fats.

I would also like to take a moment to provide some context to the use of fats in baking. Baking is in many ways closer to chemistry than to cooking. Baking is a series of chemical reactions initiated by a combination of ingredients in specific quantities and functionality, along with a well-defined process. Fats are an important functional ingredient in baking, and they play a vital role in tenderizing, enhancing plastic range, lubrication, lamination, creaming, moistening, and flavour.

Recognizing the different roles that fats play, it is important to note that no one fat has all these characteristics; therefore, a one-size-fits-all approach is unrealistic in searching for trans fat replacers. The main challenges bakers face in replacing trans fats occurs when a hard fat is required. Substantial progress has been achieved through the use of liquid oils in muffins and cakes, and palm oil shortening is used extensively, yet success has not been universal, and there are still problem areas in dryness and lack of stability with icings, cookies, and pies.

However, the challenges facing bakers are not news. The trans fat task force itself recognized this, and stated in its final report:

The Task Force felt the implementation of its recommendations should be staged to reflect the challenges to the food industry and to optimize public health benefits. For example, for certain oil uses (especially frying) adjustments can be made quickly. However, small businesses and certain baking applications may need more time to adjust.

I'm sure most will recall that the task force recommended up to two years to develop regulations and up to two years for implementation. However, it went further, and again I quote:

Extended phase-in periods [may] be specified for certain applications (e.g. baking) and for small and medium-sized firms, recognizing that in most cases the transition could be made within two years of the date of entry into force of the final regulations.

The task force therefore recognized the challenges faced by bakers and made specific mention that for certain baking applications an extended phase-in period beyond the four-year timeframe it proposed might be required.

In response to the trans fat task force report, then Minister of Health Clement undertook a far more aggressive voluntary approach by establishing a two-year timeline for compliance with the task force recommendations. The minister also instituted a monitoring program to report on industry's reformulation efforts. The last of those four monitoring reports, released in December 2009, contained product sampling data from August to November 2008.

It is these data that are apparently being used to determine the success or failure of the voluntary approach. However, we are of the opinion that in order to assess the success or failure of the voluntary approach, the points that follow must be taken into consideration.

The stated objective or outcome of the trans fat task force report--and again I quote--is to “reduce the average daily intake of trans fat by Canadians...to less than 1% of energy intake, consistent with current dietary recommendations”. According to Health Canada, the average contribution of trans fat as a percentage of energy has been reduced substantially over the years; in 1995 it was 3.7%; in 2004 it was 2%; and in 2008, based on the fourth set of monitoring data, it was 1.4%.

However, bakers did not cease reformulating in 2008, when the final monitoring data were collected, or at the expiration of the minister's voluntary compliance date of July 2009. Indeed bakers have made, and to this day continue to make, substantial investments in reformulation with little or no support from governments and in the face of the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression.

Therefore, we would recommend that current market data are required to make a final assessment regarding the success of the voluntary reduction effort in reaching the objective of reducing the average daily intake of trans fat by Canadians to less than 1% of energy intake.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you, Mr. Hetherington; your time is up.

I understand that you did submit a document. It needs to be translated, and once it is, we'll distribute it to all the committee members. Thank you.

We'll now go to the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association.

Welcome back, Mr. Reaman.

[Ron Reaman, Vice-President, Federal, Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association]

Thank you very much.

It's nice to see everybody around the table again today. Thanks for having us back twice this week.

Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members. It's a pleasure to be here.

As you know, the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association is a $60 billion industry in Canada. My association represents about 33,000 restaurants. We were a very active and engaged member of the national trans fat task force and were fully supportive of the recommendations of the task force when they issued their report, including the prescribed limits set out for trans fat in the food supply of 2% and 5%, as Dr. Godefroy has already commented on.

The restaurant industry is not usually an industry that comes before government and makes requests for regulations or government interventions per se; however, trans fat has evolved, and in a unique way, and in this case, given what has evolved in the past number of years, I want it to be on record that the restaurant industry has in fact made requests of the Government of Canada to establish a national regulatory framework so as to ensure consistency with respect to reductions in trans fat across Canada. I'll speak to that in a little more detail in a few minutes.

As you heard from Dr. Godefroy previously, the government originally opted for a voluntary approach. The food service industry responded in earnest during that two-year voluntary period. We developed a how-to guide, which many of you may have seen over the years; it was advice and counsel to members of our industry on how to actually go about reducing trans fat in their menu items and product offerings. As Dr. Godefroy has already pointed out, Health Canada's trans fat monitoring program has clearly indicated that my sector has made significant efforts and reductions in trans fat in our menu items.

However, the challenges during the initial transition period were significant for food service. We had challenges in obtaining adequate supply. Some of our national chain operators that have very large volumes in oils in particular faced some initial challenges in getting supply online. Eventually, as there were market indicators that were compelling some transition in the supply side, we were able to get product and oils online, but I cannot overstate the significant challenges our members faced throughout those initial couple of years of transition. I want to be clear that it was not easy. Our member companies put a lot of resources, both human and fiscal, into their efforts to reduce trans fats.

In the absence of a national regulatory framework for trans fat reductions, what we've seen happen over the past number of years is local and regional authorities across this country undertaking their own regional regulatory approach to banning trans fat. I'll cite the example of the Calgary Regional Health Authority, which was one of the first to go down that road. We have seen a similar process unfold in British Columbia, and I have addressed a number of municipal bodies over the course of the past number of years that have looked at this as an option.

The food service industry is and has been uniquely challenged because of the nature of Canada's food regulatory regime; that is, the jurisdictional purview for enforcement and compliance around these kinds of issues is such that restaurants really have been singled out as policemen, if you will, to police the entire Canadian food supply with respect to trans fat. This has posed significant challenges for our members across the country. In response we have come back to the federal government. We have made our case, in this instance, to have a consistent national regulatory framework so that we can ensure that our members are operating in an environment in which they have a level playing field with their direct competitors along the food value chain.

I think I'll leave my comments at that, I will be open to questions later.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you very much, Mr. Reaman.

We'll now go to Food and Consumer Products of Canada. Ms. Tanaka, welcome back.

[Phyllis Tanaka, Vice-President, Scientific and Regulatory Affairs (Food Policy), Food and Consumer Products of Canada]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

As you know, Food and Consumer Products of Canada is the trade association that represents the food manufacturing industry in Canada. We welcome this opportunity to speak to the Standing Committee on Health regarding the industry's efforts to reduce trans fat in the Canadian food supply.

We're pleased with the results to date and believe that industry continues to demonstrate support and commitment to providing healthy products to Canadians.

I want to begin by reiterating that despite recent media reports to the contrary, food manufacturers in Canada have indeed made significant progress in reducing or eliminating trans fats in prepackaged products. FCPC and our members have been active participants in the reduction of trans fats for a number of years. When the multi-stakeholder trans fat task force began in 2004, FCPC was at the table to help develop recommendations and strategies to effectively eliminate or reduce processed trans fats in Canadian foods to the lowest levels possible.

The ultimate goal of the reduction strategy was to meet the World Health Organization recommendation to have no more than 1% of total energy made up of trans fats. Since those recommendations were accepted and implemented by the government in 2007, the processed food industry has successfully reduced or eliminated trans fat toward the task force's goal in approximately 80% of the prepackaged products monitored by Health Canada. This estimate, to connect to earlier remarks, is based on a review of the last set of monitoring data collected from the marketplace in 2008 and early 2009.

Industry's progress made has been publicly praised by Health Minister Aglukkaq, who said, “Our government is pleased to see that industry has reduced the level of trans fat in many prepackaged foods. This was achieved by finding healthier alternatives without increasing the levels of saturated fat”.

We continue to seek and develop healthier alternatives to trans fats for the remaining products. However, for some products, as already indicated by Mr. Hetherington, reducing trans fats will require a longer-term effort, given the challenges that are well documented in the task force report "TRANSforming the Food Supply".

Despite significant investment by industry, government, and academics, challenges still exist to find the appropriate substitute ingredients for some products and to ensure that reformulated and new products meet consumers' expectations for taste, texture, and quality.

Because of this progress, we continue to support a voluntary approach to trans fat reduction. We believe that Health Canada's trans fat audits demonstrate that food manufacturers have made significant progress since 2007 and have met the task force targets in a wide variety of product categories.

Moving forward, we propose an accurate assessment of Canadians' intake of trans fats against the World Health Organization's recommendation of less than 1% of total caloric intake. This should be done before we consider an expensive legislative process. Ultimately the 1% level is the critical success indicator for the trans fat task force.

We recommend that Health Canada utilize the Canadian Community Health Survey data for dietary patterns and access current trans fat label data from the marketplace to assess the current trans fat intake of Canadians. As I mentioned earlier, the assessments of products in the marketplace are reflective of the marketplace in 2008, and we need to update.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

You're going to have to summarize. Thank you.

[Phyllis Tanaka]

In summary, FCPC and our members are committed to continuing to work with government and are committed to continuing to find ways to reduce trans fats in the Canadian food supply.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you, Ms. Tanaka. Now we will go to Ms. Sally Brown.

[Sally Brown, Chief Executive Officer, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada]

Merci, madame. Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee to express the views of the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

You've already heard that trans fats are five to six times more harmful to the health of Canadians than saturated fats. I want to emphasize also that unlike sodium and sugar and other issues that are coming in front of this committee, trans fats have absolutely no nutritional benefit. There is nothing good about trans fats.

I had the privilege to co-chair the national trans fat task force, which, as you know, is a multi-stakeholder group and broadly representative. I believe all the groups around this table, if not the individuals, were members of that committee. I would emphasize that the final report called for regulations and that there were no dissenting opinions from any of the groups around the table in that report. I would also like to emphasize that it has been four years since the release of the report; a number of us on the trans fat task force believe that four years was a long-term period, and now we're still hearing four years later that it is not long enough.

We freely admit that progress has been made in a number of sectors. I believe those food industries that have made changes deserve kudos, because they have invested time and energy in the changes.

We have spoken to a number of them. They are frustrated that others don't have to, and that change has happened predominantly when the consumer can read the food label and put consumer pressure on the producers to take the trans fats out. It's not so true, as we have heard, in areas of the food services sector and in suppliers to that sector, but kudos are deserved where they're due.

The monitoring data itself showed that 25% of food products still contain trans fats, but that 25% is an underestimate, because not all products have been monitored. Many products high in trans fats were not monitored, and small and medium-sized food service operators were not adequately captured. The minister herself acknowledged that progress has been slower in this sector; frankly, we are not getting at the suppliers to that sector, and without regulation, we don't believe we can.

Even more problematic than the 25% figure, though, is that trans fats continue to be in baked goods. We recognized that it was going to be harder to take them out, but it is four years later. Some of these goods, which are often consumed by our children, remain alarmingly high in trans fats. They can even be found at dangerous levels in foods served to our children in hospitals, environments that were meant to protect the health of our children.

The other issue that came up in the trans fat task force was that regulations would send a clear signal to suppliers to create healthier alternatives. Without those regulations, I think we are hearing that this hasn't happened. That's an opportunity missed, but it's not too late.

Further reductions are certainly needed, and Madam Chair, the Canadian government has regulated to protect Canadians before. We've taken bisphenol A from plastic products such as baby bottles. We've recently passed legislation to protect children from tobacco marketing and to protect them from candy-flavoured cigarillos that were appealing to children. In the Speech from the Throne in March this government assured parents that it is working, through legislation, to ensure that--and I quote, “...their children's food, medicine and toys are safe”.

In summary, we think there are a lot of reasons to continue with a regulatory approach and to make a decision soon. There remain too many trans fats in our food supply. They have no nutritional value. I think sometimes that if there was any hint they were a carcinogen, they would have been long gone. There is no evidence that regulations are cost prohibitive, that implementation costs to government are high. There is no evidence that regulations are cost prohibitive for industry.

Reformulation of products is a business reality across all sectors. Federal regulations will level the playing field, and we have some sympathy for Ron, with the patchwork quilt that has been created across Canada. Regulations don't involve the banning of any food or infringing on the freedom of Canadians. They will still be able to buy those food products; they just won't be harmful to their health. Polling shows that up to 84% of Canadians are supportive of regulations.

My last point is this: prior to the 1970s we managed to live without them; we can do so again.

Merci.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Sean McPhee, president and chief executive officer of the Vegetable Oil Industry.

[Sean McPhee, President and Chief Executive Officer, Vegetable Oil Industry of Canada Inc.]

Good morning, and thank you for inviting us.

I'm Sean McPhee with the Vegetable Oil Industry of Canada. With me is Doug Sparks, who is chair of our board and is vice-president of Bunge Canada, which is the largest supplier of fats and oils to the food industry. In Mr. Sparks you have a senior executive who is an expert in this area, so I'm going to keep my comments pretty brief, and I hope we can get into discussion.

First of all, to give you a sense of who we are, we represent the vegetable oil value chain. If you think of a vertical column, first we have seed developers; at the next level we have 52,000 canola growers, mainly in western Canada; then we have the processors who refine and produce oil from oilseed; and we have consumer product-makers, who make things like margarine, cooking oil, mayonnaise, dessert toppings, etc. That that's who you have before you.

We just heard that alternatives are not penetrating the market. We're going to give you a slightly different point of view. Overall, our industry has developed formulations to allow bakeries, margarine companies, the food service sector, and virtually all food companies to provide products with no trans fats and, in most cases, lower saturated fat. To give you some details, today virtually every national fast-food outlet is using a trans-fat-free frying oil. Trans-fat-free, low-unsaturated-fat margarines now have the largest market share in Canada. Virtually all the large bakeries in Canada are using trans-fat-free formulations. Many of the facilities within our industry that produce hydrogenated oil, which is the source of trans fat, have either been closed or converted.

The acreage dedicated to producing high-stability oil that does not create trans fat has substantially increased. High-oleic canola now comprises 900,000 tonnes of Canada's canola production, and is expected to increase to 3.75 million tonnes, or 25% of production, by 2015. We estimate that more than 80% of the market is now meeting the task force trans fat limits of 2% for liquid oils and 5% for all other foods.

We will make a couple of comments on the fourth data set for you, the last set of monitoring data, which Health Canada released in December 2009.

The government is considering possible regulation. We're not going to present a point of view either strongly for or against regulation, but what we are in favour of is good public policy, so we have a couple of comments that I hope will guide the thinking and the debate as we go through this. When we look at the monitoring data, it's important to note that it does reflect some sources of trans fat that are beyond the reach of the domestic vegetable oil industry. The data include trans fat levels found in imported mixed foods, such as frozen appetizers and dinners, which are prepared mostly in the United States and shipped as finished products to Canada.

I'm going to ask Mr. Sparks to comment a bit more on that.

[Doug Sparks, Chair of the Board, Vice-President of Bunge Canada, Vegetable Oil Industry of Canada Inc.]

This has been problematic for a number of years in terms of how Canada deals with borders. This is something our company deals with all the time. Border crossings and cross-border products are problematic.

As was pointed out, there have been some very substantial improvements made in the Canadian diet. The fast-food industry, virtually and almost without exception, has made the transfer. All the national bakeries have made the transfer as well. We're dealing with trans fatty acids coming from hydrogenation.

There are other sources of trans fatty acids that, as we're measuring, also have to be brought into it to understand it. There are trans fatty acids coming from meat and dairy products, so when you get down to these very low levels of 1%, there has to be an understanding of what is left over from the other sources to make sure that everybody understands the progress that has been made by the industry. Certainly I cannot think of one application in which there is not a non-trans formulation available to a user or an industry group. There are sometimes cost issues and functionality issues in how they run their plants, but there are options for virtually every application now.

[Sean McPhee]

I have one statement in conclusion.

Our recommendation is that we should be looking very closely at Health Canada's population intake data to answer the very question that Mr. Sparks just raised: at these low levels, what are the sources of the levels of trans fat?

Going forward, our strong recommendation is that if the government is intent on regulating the trans fat that remains in the Canadian diet, a thorough understanding of the remaining levels and sources of the trans fat is required.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you, Mr. McPhee.

We'll now go into our seven-minute rounds of questions and answers. I'll be keeping a close watch on the time so that everyone will get a chance.

We're going to start with Dr. Bennett and Ms. Murray. Who would like to begin?

Go ahead, Dr. Bennett.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

I sense the frustration of Sally Brown and all the people who are participating in the task force, but I'd like to ask the official a question.

If we knew in the 1970s what we know now, would trans fats have been allowed on the market?

[Dr. Samuel Godefroy]

We'll have to go back to the regulatory framework of the 1970s. In terms of trans fat, hydrogenated oils or partially hydrogenated oils are food ingredients. Obviously, they were not necessarily subject to government oversight in the 1970s before their introduction into the food supply, but definitely, with the level of scientific knowledge that we have at this point in time, we would have discouraged such widespread use of this type of commodity in food processing.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

Is it not the role of government to regulate the things that are healthy for people and not healthy for people?

[Dr. Samuel Godefroy]

I'm going to speak from the standpoint of a food safety regulator, because that's essentially the role we're playing here.

Government definitely has a role in looking at all the effects of food ingredients, and if there is an effect that is detrimental to health, in coming up with the most effective ways to help us mitigate that effect. This is essentially what we're trying to do with this file, with trans fat specifically.