Evidence of meeting #52 for Health in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was foods.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Mr. Duhamel, maybe you could provide comment from your perspective, or Ms. Provencher, on a recommended amount. I believe there was a BBC report that made reference to three 255-millitre cans potentially being an excessive amount of pop to be drinking in a given week.
Public Affairs Manager, Dietitians of Canada
Please allow me not to jump in on that. As I said earlier, the problem right now is that we're focusing too much on nutrients and forgetting the ball park figure. Right now Canadians are not consuming certain types of foods, mainly fruits and vegetables and milk products. Talking about the amount of soft drinks the kid may or may not drink will not solve that problem. It will not improve their global nutrition and enable them to have a healthy life later on. We have to promote the other foods, not necessarily ban the bad ones. We really need to make these other foods available.
In the packages we sent you last week, I believe there is a document on our position on soft drinks. We do believe that taxing these soft drinks in order to make them equal to other beverages that are healthier choices would help Canadians to achieve the goals we want, which is to eat more of the foods they need to sustain their health.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Government wants to promote healthy living and send a consistent message. When you look at a container of milk with the same liquid amount as a non-diet can of cola, you might have the same calorie count. Which one would you recommend, and why?
Public Affairs Manager, Dietitians of Canada
I would say milk would be the first choice because of all the other nutrients that come with that food. Should we exclude the other ones? I would not say to exclude the other ones.
Conservative
Conservative
Tilly O'Neill-Gordon Conservative Miramichi, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank you all for being here this afternoon. Your presentations certainly are all very worthwhile to all of us.
As we know, the labelling on food helps consumers to make informed choices about the foods they buy and what they eat. We need to become, as I think we'd all say, more and more educated about the healthy facts. We are probably doing this by reading the labels a lot more now. I know I am myself. There is also the Heart and Stroke Foundation, which has their check logo to designate heart-friendly foods.
Is this a technique that you would recommend for similar groups to employ as well? Do you know of any other groups that are going to start doing that? We just know that the Heart and Stroke Foundation has its logo on certain foods. Are there going to be other means that are going to have other things?
Also, back home we have a restaurant that has the mango symbol on it, which gives us an idea that the meal is healthy. Do you know of any other means that are coming along the way that will be promoting such ideas?
Associate Professor, Scientific Researcher, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Institute of Nutraceuticals and Functionnal Foods, As an Individual
Those initiatives may be useful because they provide information. However, the problem is that there is no standardization. It is done on a voluntary basis. Some may decide to use a logo and others not, which can create disparities between certain foods.
A food item with a logo might appear healthier than the one beside it which has no logo. But the one without a logo may be just as nutritious. If a logo had to be adopted, it would need to be applied systematically to all foods, rather than everyone having the choice of whether to use it or not.
So it may be a useful tool, but the process would require some thought and some oversight using standards. The labelling would have to be systematic and standardized.
Public Affairs Manager, Dietitians of Canada
As it now stands, our biggest problem is not that there are several healthy standardization and promotion systems for nutrition, such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation program, but those initiatives are often drowned in a sea of similar ones, which is very confusing for consumers. What is worse, too often today consumers do not trust the labelling and they tell us so. Which do they believe? The yellow logo, the blue one or the red one? It becomes extremely difficult to sort them out. So best not to trust any of them at all.
This is why Dietitians of Canada would like to see all claims and labelling systems standardized in order to help consumers understand them, and to develop a level of trust that they need to make informed food choices that will keep them healthy.
Conservative
Tilly O'Neill-Gordon Conservative Miramichi, NB
Does anybody else want to come in?
My other question relates to your mention of how you could take your scanner and scan a product if you were in the United States. I'm wondering how Canada's nutrition labelling has had an impact on the purchasing habits of Canadians and how it compares to other countries for labelling.
Public Affairs Manager, Dietitians of Canada
I don't have any data on that.
Associate Professor, Scientific Researcher, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Institute of Nutraceuticals and Functionnal Foods, As an Individual
Few studies have specifically addressed this issue. There were some studies in the United States, or perhaps it was in Germany; it does not matter. If I recall correctly, one study in particular showed that adding a health claim to a product influenced the decision for about 10% of consumers. Making a claim can therefore have some effect on a purchasing decision. But we have no specific data on actual consumption. There are almost no studies evaluating the impact that claims or labels have on the actual consumption.
Public Affairs Manager, Dietitians of Canada
There's another problem that we're not addressing enough, which is that a substantial number of Canadian people are not able to read and understand that basic information. Approximately 40% of the Canadian population do not have sufficient reading skills to understand the labels. We need to address that aspect as well. We must stop believing that just labelling will solve the problem. We need other efforts as well to bring that nutrition message out there.
Conservative
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and my compliments to all of the witnesses here today.
I spent the first 10 years of my life after university in the kitchen preparing and purchasing food, so I have great admiration for the work you do. At this stage of my life, to see the strides that have been made in the quality of food, nutrition, and packaging is something that I find very encouraging.
I want to come back to this question about the standardizing of portions. Some of you spoke as if this would be fairly easy to achieve, yet as I looked at it, I wondered how you would do it in light of the many choices involved. Mr. Duhamel made some references to different cereal products. Some consumers will use them by weight or perhaps by size. It is difficult to take even one of those steps, realizing there are many more to take, but perhaps one of those steps could be readily undertaken. These are the kinds of things that a committee can regard as a practical measure. I would like a brief comment from each of you on this.
Go ahead, Mr. Sherwood.
President, Refreshments Canada
I think there are some product categories in which that type of standardization is probably a little easier. There are other product categories in which it is next to impossible, either because it's a variable-weight product or because it's sold by weight and consumed in a different manner. With restaurant meals, I think you're inviting a nightmare. It depends on the product category. I was asked by Mr. Malo how easy it was. Well, in our category it was fairly easy, but in other categories it's a complete and utter nightmare.
Public Affairs Manager, Dietitians of Canada
I would like to be precise about that: I didn't say it would be easy; I said there was a precedent out there. Canada's Food Guide suggests portion sizes, and we have tools for diabetics that suggest portion sizes as well, so there are some precedents out there.
Conservative
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Do you think there's an interest in accepting that kind of trend within the packaging industry for these types of retail foods? What is the willingness to move forward with such a venture?
President, Refreshments Canada
I think you'd have to ask the packaged goods sector when they are here later this week.
Public Affairs Manager, Dietitians of Canada
I would hope so. It builds trust between the consumers and the food offered. If we want to be able to work to have a healthier Canada, we need to build on trust. Having simple tools, simple things like those, helps to build trust.
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Mr. Hunter, it's a great Canadian product, canola, but often when we're talking about less healthy foods, we hear the deep-fried products getting a bad rap. I know this is more on the food-service side of the coin, but has there been any health improvement as a result of using that kind of fat item for fried products across the spectrum?
Vice-President, Communications, Canola Council of Canada
Yes, there is the adoption of high oleic canola in place of hydrogenated oils. One of the food service companies out there has a figure saying they not only removed the transfat, but they also removed x amount of saturated fat from the diet. Moving from a soybean oil to a canola oil will actually cut the amount of saturated fat in half.
