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.