Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee, for this opportunity to appear before you today to discuss this important issue.
By way of background, Kellogg Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kellogg Company. Our head office is in Mississauga, and we have sales offices in Montreal and Calgary. We have two cereal plants: one in London, Ontario, and one in Belleville. Throughout Canada we employ 800 Canadians.
As a leading manufacturer of breakfast cereals in Canada, we know that breakfast cereals contribute significant health benefits to the Canadian diet. Breakfast cereals are a major contributor of B vitamins, iron, and zinc, and in fact, breakfast cereals are the number one source of iron in the Canadian diet for children.
The majority are low in fat, and all Kellogg's breakfast cereals have zero trans fats. Most importantly, many of our cereals are among the largest contributors of fibre in the diet, a nutrient that many Canadian adults and children are deficient in. In addition, there is consistent evidence that people who regularly eat breakfast cereals tend to be slimmer than those who do not.
It is very important to note, in the context of your review of sodium, that breakfast cereals represent 3% of the sodium intake in the Canadian diet, according to Statistics Canada. In fact, as this committee heard at your October 5 meeting, cereals are not among the top 10 foods that contribute sodium to the Canadian diet.
This is not to say that we take this issue lightly. We recognize that sodium is an important issue for Canadians, and we are committed to doing our part to help address it in our products. And we'll be doing our part as an ongoing commitment to our health and wellness.
We were very aggressive in renovating all our food products to ensure that there were zero grams of trans fats per serving. We have already lowered the sugar in a number of our breakfast cereals, and we have lowered sodium levels in a number of our cereal products.
Kellogg Canada is committed to gradually lowering the sodium content of our cereals and to continuing to improve their nutritional profile. For context, I think it's helpful for the committee to understand the range of breakfast cereals we make and their contribution to the sodium intake of Canadians.
Kellogg Canada manufacturers 36 cereal products. About 75% of these products have 230 milligrams of sodium or less per serving. Five of our products have zero milligrams of sodium per serving, 13 have 200 milligrams of sodium or less, and nine have between 200 and 230 milligrams of sodium per serving. However, we do have nine products that have sodium levels of over 230 milligrams per serving. These include Kellogg's All-Bran, which was the subject of some recent media coverage.
At the beginning of 2009, we embarked on a project to gradually reduce the sodium levels in these nine products. I'm pleased to announce to the committee today that we are committed to achieving an initial target of 200 milligrams of sodium per serving for each of these products by early 2011.
All along, our strategy has been to reduce sodium gradually, over time, without compromising taste or quality. Consumers are very sensitive to formulation changes and to drastic changes in the flavour profile of an established brand, especially in the breakfast cereals they know so well. If this is not done properly, consumers may reject the new taste and walk away from the food product. In doing so, they may change to a replacement food that may not have the nutritional benefits of the high-fibre cereal. That's why our plan is to have a phased approach to reduce the sodium.
Although there are many challenges associated with reformulating products to reduce sodium while maintaining consumer acceptance, we remain committed. Progress is being made, and more progress is coming. We're focused on achieving this goal, and we know we will be successful.
Kellogg Canada remains recommitted to continually improving the nutritional contribution of our products for all Canadians. As well, we remain committed to working together with the government, health and professional associations, and members of Parliament from all parties to help Canadians reduce their sodium intake.
To that end, I do appreciate the opportunity to present this information to the committee and I welcome any questions you might have today.
Thank you.