Evidence of meeting #15 for Health in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to all the witnesses for appearing today. This is very useful for us.
My first set of questions is for Health Canada. We know of jurisdictions where there have been bans--for example, Denmark and Switzerland--and there have even been bans in cities, such as New York City. What have you taken from your research of these total bans? Have they been successes? What can we learn from them?
Director General, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
We definitely relied on what has happened in other jurisdictions. We learned from Denmark as a main jurisdiction, because it was one of the earliest jurisdictions that used regulation to limit the level of trans fat. There was definitely success in that regard in decreasing the level of intake of trans fat.
However, a number of challenges were seen in the implementation of that approach. One was the availability of replacement options. What is important to note, however, is that Denmark and the European food supply in general are somewhat different from the Canadian and North American market, particularly in terms of the oils and the vegetable oils that are available. As mentioned, in the 1970s North America invested quite heavily in the availability of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils as an alternative to allow an enhanced level of stability, so while there are parallels that we learned from, there are also major differences that we're trying to address in that regard.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
What does that investment look like? Are we talking about capital, buildings, and factories, or are we talking--
Director General, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
We are talking about availability of supply, mainly, and therefore formulation of products that are adapted to that type of supply.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
On page 8 of your brief you told us that Health Canada is exploring the best combination of approaches, both regulatory and non-regulatory. What does that look like?
Director General, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Some of the regulatory options are already in play and are being used. The use of the nutrition labelling regulations is already a lever that is out there, and actually that was completely implemented in 2007. We're still seeing the effects of that. I brought some samples with me of some chocolate products coming from the same types of suppliers, Swiss suppliers. There are products that are available in Canada and products that are available in Switzerland. That's really a notable difference, in that the nutrition facts table clearly is there to inform consumers of the level of trans fat. That's an important tool that is out there.
Another regulatory lever that we use is to define through regulation what we mean by a trans-fat-free product. We needed to come up with that determination as well, and that has also been done since 2007.
We also needed to look at tools that will allow the monitoring of trans fat. We spoke about the monitoring program itself, but the monitoring program involved the development of the methodologies that would allow us to measure the level of trans fat in foods. In fact, it was a Canadian method; a Health Canada scientist developed what we now consider to be the gold standard in measuring trans fats in food. That was also done in 2007-2008.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
I just wanted to understand what you meant when you said “regulatory”, and those are some good examples.
In the research you have done on success, would you see regulation of amounts as a necessary part of a plan for moving forward?
Director General, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
As I mentioned in my introduction, we see value in using a regulatory lever, and essentially that's what we're trying to do right now. We are focusing on the outcomes of what has been done so far and evaluating those outcomes to see where progress was made, how that progress was made, and essentially where it led us in terms of decreasing the intake of trans fat. We are also focusing on seeing the areas where there is still a challenge, identifying the reasons behind those challenges, and identifying the best tools to reduce the level of trans fat.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Thanks very much.
My next question is for Mr. Reaman. You mentioned the enormous fiscal and human resources that your members have put into reducing trans fats. You're calling for regulation, and I think it's to even the disparity among your members. Can you tell us what that looks like?
Vice-President, Federal, Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association
Let me be very clear: it's actually not so much in and among our members. The fact is that Canada's current food regulatory regime only permits local jurisdictions--a health regional authority, a municipality, or a province--to focus regulatory efforts around this kind of issue on food service establishments. That's the only lever available to them; they do not have the purview to regulate other members within the food industry, so food service has been uniquely singled out and has been forced to police up the food value chain, which is a very difficult position for us to be in.
As Sally noted, the smaller or medium independent-operator segment of our industry has had some challenges in achieving the kinds of reduction we might like to achieve because those folks don't have clout with suppliers per se. The large national chain operators, who have much more consolidated relationships with their suppliers, can effectively leverage that relationship to force change in supply.
There's a disconnect. It's not so much about what has happened or not happened within my sector; it's about an equity and a consistent, level playing field across the entire food industry.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Thank you.
I have one more question. It's for Health Canada. We've heard about the problem of imports. What would regulation of imports look like?
Director General, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
If we're talking about regulation that would limit the levels of trans fat in prepackaged foods and essentially be applicable to prepackaged foods, regulations would apply without distinction between products produced domestically and made available domestically and those produced outside the country and made available domestically. They would apply equally.
Director General, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
It would be just like that. That's why one of the issues we need to look at when we develop and analyze the regulatory option is the impact of that regulatory option on some of our trade agreements.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joy Smith
Thank you, Dr. Godefroy.
We'll now go to Mr. Uppal.
Try to keep track of the chair, if you can.
Go ahead, Mr. Uppal.
Conservative
Tim Uppal Conservative Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, witnesses, for coming here today.
This government is committed to improving the lives of Canadians and making sure that Canadians are among the healthiest people in the world. A part of that is cutting trans fats out of their diets.
Mr. Godefroy, you mentioned in your opening remarks a number of activities that Health Canada has undertaken to educate consumers about trans fats and the dangers of trans fats. Can you elaborate on those?
Director General, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
One of the first elements I would mention in that regard is Canada's food guide. Its new version, which was made available in 2007, clearly made recommendations to Canadians to limit their consumption of trans fats and saturated fats. We have made clear recommendations on how diet could limit those levels. Of course, in making that recommendation, we needed to make sure that consumers had the information they needed to make those food choices.
The nutrition labeling regulations were a major element in enabling consumers to follow these recommendations. As I mentioned, the nutritional labeling regulations were implemented fully in 2007. We are in a unique situation in that Canada is the first country to recommend the labeling of trans fat as part of the mandatory requirements of the nutrition facts table.
In that regard we were followed by other jurisdictions. Since then the United States has adopted this approach, as well as other countries in Central and South America. This week, when Canada is hosting the Codex Committee on Food Labelling in Quebec City, we have made a recommendation as a country to adopt this recommendation internationally for the labelling of trans fats in all products made internationally.
Conservative
Tim Uppal Conservative Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB
While you're on that subject of labelling, what has the impact of it been? If this has happened since 2007, what has the impact of the labelling been?
Director General, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
A lot of the reduction in intake that we have seen is attributed to the success of the labelling regulations, particularly in the prepackaged sector.
Conservative
Tim Uppal Conservative Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB
Good.
What is the Government of Canada doing to actually reduce trans fats? You mentioned in your opening remarks that you've taken steps to reduce them.
Director General, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Definitely the monitoring program was a major milestone in that regard, and that's essentially the commitment made by the Minister of Health in 2007. We are seeing right now the end of the monitoring program. In fact, we published the last set of data in December 2009.
Our scientists require the outcomes of the monitoring program to undergo the challenge of scientific peer review. That scientific peer review was completed in March 2010, and there was a publication made available in the international scientific literature that essentially critically reviewed the way the monitoring program has been implemented and the outcomes it has achieved.
Conservative
Tim Uppal Conservative Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB
We've heard that the primary source in Canadians' diets is through industrially processed foods. What has Health Canada done to get the food industry to reduce the trans fats, and where have you seen the best progress?
Director General, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Our role is essentially to oversee the food supply and to use our regulatory and non-regulatory levers to achieve public health outcomes, and in that regard we've mentioned the replacement options. Some of these replacement options are required to undergo a pre-market review. We have treated the oilseeds and the novel crops that are identified as suitable replacement options as priorities for our pre-market review, and Health Canada has approved a number of them. As recently as March 2008 we approved a new variety of soybean that would result in a suitable replacement option that would essentially mitigate the need to resort to trans fats.
Conservative
Tim Uppal Conservative Edmonton—Sherwood Park, AB
Could we get a comment from the industry on the success of that?
Chair of the Board, Vice-President of Bunge Canada, Vegetable Oil Industry of Canada Inc.
Perhaps I can help.
The change in the seed varieties, certainly with canola, has been extraordinary. The major national food service accounts in Canada are now generally using identity-preserved canola. It is a high-oleic, low-linolenic canola that has the same properties in terms of stability as a hydrogenated product, with the same low saturated fat as a regular canola. That has been legislated and allowed through by the Canadian government. This is really allowing a marked improvement in the Canadian diet.