Thank you.
Food and Consumer Products welcomes this opportunity to meet again on the efforts to reduce sodium consumption in Canada. When we met last October, FCPC indicated its support for the work being done in the multi-stakeholder working group process. We continue to supports its work, and I continue to take an active role as a member of the working group.
The multi-stakeholder working group is the driving force developing a fulsome strategy toward reduced sodium consumption in Canada. FCPC members manufacture the majority of the processed food products found on retail shelves in Canada. They are committed to offering a variety of healthy products. For many years they have been developing new products with reduced sodium, and reformulating processed food products to reduce their sodium levels. They will continue to make advances in doing so.
However, as has been stated before, it is important for the committee to understand that lowering sodium levels in food and beverage products is a complex undertaking and takes time. As you already know, sodium performs a number of functions in food manufacturing, so it can't just be removed without having a suitable alternative. There is no one replacement for sodium to meet the varied functions it plays in a food product. That is why successful product reformulation takes time. A rough estimate for a straightforward change is approximately two years, and that's for one product.
It must always be remembered that consumer acceptance is critical to the success of any new product or reformulated product with lower sodium levels. It takes consumer awareness of why the changes are occurring, and consumer acceptance of the changes in the products.
The working group has established a three-pronged approach to achieve the goal of lowering sodium levels, with these very complexities in mind. The strategy involves education, the voluntary reduction of sodium levels in processed food products and food sold in food service establishments, and research. All of the stakeholders involved in these efforts agree that salt reduction in the food supply and overall reduction in the dietary intake of sodium by Canadians will only succeed if it is done in a staged process.
Industry requires time to successfully model sodium reductions in food products. Consumers need time to acclimatize to a new taste profile. Above all, for any initiative to succeed the targets must be realistic, feasible, and sustainable. This last point is a theme that is recognized globally.
FCPC members have been engaged in the process with the working group since it formed. This engagement is driven through FCPC's own sodium committee, which is made up of the scientific-technical representatives from its member companies. Member companies participated in the working group's public consultation in February 2009, providing information critical to understanding the issues industry faced in addressing the challenges they need to overcome to succeed. Right now they are actively engaged in the dialogue with Health Canada to establish sodium reduction targets that will support the working group's interim goal of bringing the population average sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams per day.
In closing, the challenge of reducing sodium is not unique to Canada; it's a global problem. Many other jurisdictions around the world have been contemplating how to do it. While some have initiated steps earlier than Canada, there isn't any one that is further ahead than we are now. Most have come to the conclusion, like Canada, that it's a process that will take time, must be based on collaboration among the many stakeholders, and must be based on realistic and achievable targets.
I believe the Canadian approach stands out as a model that is strategic and reflects good leadership.
Thank you.