Thanks again for the opportunity to speak with you today.
I want to assure all the members of this committee that Canada's restaurant and food services industry recognizes the importance and challenge of reducing sodium intake levels for Canadians. Many of our member companies are already working on product reformulation and testing of sodium-reduced products.
As you know, a process has been established in which government, industry, and the public health NGOs are working together under the aegis of Health Canada's multi-stakeholder working group on sodium reduction. We're fully committed to that process that is already under way, and we are hoping to play an active role in collectively achieving our shared goal, which is to reduce the overall intake levels of sodium by Canadians.
My industry has been working very hard to identify opportunities for success on a number of health-related reforms, as Joyce has already noted. While the industry is committed to doing our part and working collaboratively to achieve the reduced dietary sodium intake levels of Canadians, it is imperative to note some of the key challenges that face the food service industry as we move towards that success. You'll hear from some quarters that reducing sodium is a simple matter and that the food industry should just get on with doing it. While the industry has already begun to reduce sodium and develop lower sodium projects, the fact is that sodium plays a multi-faceted role in food, and we should not be misguided and oversimplify the complex. Among other things, we need to know that sodium is used as a stabilizer. It's used as a flavour enhancer. It's also used as an antimicrobial agent in support of food safety protocols.
I can't underscore strongly enough that the restaurant industry in particular is, above all, a consumer demand-driven business. We supply what our customers want, and we respond to meet those demands. For any sodium reduction strategy to be successful, we first need to educate the general public so they are able to shift their demand and acceptance of sodium-reduced products. This is a critical point in the overall equation of sodium reduction.
For the food services industry, sodium is a critical component in the taste profile of many signature menu items, a fact that cannot be dismissed when considering sodium reduction strategies. We must move judiciously to reduce sodium and reformulate products in order to ensure consumer acceptance of those projects. If we move too quickly, the consumer will reject the product and/or increase salt use after the point of purchase, in which case the only thing we would have achieved is the twin failure....
Do you want me to go faster now?