Madam Chair, members of the committee, thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today.
The Canadian Sugar Institute is the national, non-profit association representing sugar manufacturers in Canada on nutrition and international trade affairs. The institute provides a science-based nutrition information service that is staffed by professional dietitians—in fact, I'm a registered dietitian—and a nutrition scientist. We are also guided by a scientific advisory council and work collaboratively with professional and voluntary health associations, such as the Canadian Diabetes Association, Dietitians of Canada, and others. Most importantly, the institute does not market or advertise sugar.
My remarks today will focus on two issues relevant to the committee's study: government promotion of healthy eating and food labelling. All of our communications at the institute are science-based, and most often we are addressing misinformation. We have commissioned consumer studies since 1985, which have shown that consumer understanding is not consistent with science. For example, only 30% of Canadians understand that sugar has half the calories of fat. Like all carbohydrates, it has four calories per gram. Among Canadians, the median estimate of the number of calories in a teaspoon of sugar is 67. The correct answer is 16.
Let me give you a very brief background on the science of sugar. Sugar is the common name for sucrose. Sugar is produced naturally through photosynthesis in all green plants, including all fruits and vegetables. The pure sucrose crystals, sugar crystals, are separated from sugar cane and sugar beet to meet the Canadian food standard, which is 99.8% sucrose. I think that's probably enough science.
Sugar consumption in Canada has been declining, mostly due to the substitution of high-fructose corn syrup in sweetened beverages and some food products.
The Canadian Sugar Institute supports government strategies that are positive and enabling, not negative or targeted at individual foods. We support government frameworks such as the pan-Canadian healthy living strategy to promote healthy weights and those that build on a foundation of science and positive guidance, including Canada's Food Guide and physical activity guidelines. We do not support short-term, costly initiatives that target individual foods, such as the recent Government of Canada ad stating that sugar-sweetened drinks are linked to childhood obesity. Obviously this is of concern to our industry, because in fact the vast majority of sweetened drinks in Canada do not contain sugar; they are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. However, this messaging also implies a relationship between an individual food and its alleged ingredient—sugar—and obesity, which is not supported by the evidence. Scientific studies consistently find an inverse relationship between sugar consumption and being overweight, likely because low-sugar diets tend to be higher in fat. Fat has nine calories per gram, relative to carbohydrates at four calories per gram. Negative and inaccurate messaging about the ingredient sugar is not assisting consumers in making healthy choices.
We would like to draw your attention to the issue of food labelling and the ingredient list. This issue is very important to consumer decision-making in food choices. The Canadian Council of Food and Nutrition, in its “Tracking Nutrition Trends” report of 2008, which was a report giving a 20-year history, stated that when reading food labels, 80% of Canadians identify the ingredient list as the most important source of information. The ingredient list on food labels, as you probably know, must list all ingredients in descending order by weight. The common name must be used if it is prescribed in regulation. For sugar, that means 99.8% sucrose. Otherwise, it must use the common name of the food as it would be known in the marketplace.
We have had an increasing number of consumer inquiries regarding the labelling of high-fructose corn syrup in foods in Canada. Consumers are confused. There are two reasons for this. First, in Canada, high-fructose corn syrup is labelled as “glucose-fructose”, a term Canadians do not understand. Secondly, there is a collective term, “sugar/glucose-fructose”, which is permitted when either or both of the ingredients are used. All other sweetening agents must be labelled separately. This confusion may arise because the U.S. label uses the common term “high-fructose corn syrup”, as it is known to consumers, health professionals, and the media. Sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are not the same ingredient. High-fructose corn syrup is a sweetening agent made from cornstarch.
We feel the ingredient labelling of glucose-fructose in Canada is confusing and misleading to consumers.
I'd like to end by telling you a little bit about a survey that we conducted. We were interested in knowing how confusing the labelling was. First, we did an informal survey of dietitians. Only 12% of dietitians stated that glucose-fructose referred to the ingredient, high-fructose corn syrup. Given this poor level of understanding among dietitians, we decided to seek a nationwide online survey.
An Ipsos Reid poll conducted between January 28 and 31, 2011, found that when presented with a list of ingredients, including glucose-fructose, just one-quarter of Canadians correctly identified that as high-fructose corn syrup.
When given an ingredient list with the collective term, “sugar/glucose-fructose”, most thought that was another name for sugar, or sucrose. Three-quarters of Canadians indicated that they would prefer to see the term “high-fructose corn syrup” on the ingredient list, and nine in 10 agreed that sugar and high-fructose corn syrup should be labelled separately.
Members of the committee, consumers in Canada are confused and misinformed. We propose the following with respect to the ingredient list--