Evidence of meeting #83 for Health in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was well.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
This is when I tell you that we actually do have an app of Canada's food guide that you can download.
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
We are doing something brand new right now, but we are going to really focus on how you get that information out there. Ten years ago, when that one was created, you didn't even have an iPhone, right? We're at iPhone 10 right now. It's a very different information environment that we find ourselves in right now. Ten years ago, it was sort of high-tech to have this lovely thing you could put up on your fridge, but now, of course, we get our information in a very different way. We're looking at different possibilities of how we get that information out in ways in which Canadians can really bring it into their everyday life, whether they're shopping, whether they're in restaurants, or whether they're at home preparing meals. That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to figure out the best way to get things across.
Now, do we necessarily create apps and turn into an app business? It's not clear to me that this is the right way to go. What is necessary is that we're actually talking to the people who are being very creative with these apps, and making sure that the data we're collecting and the information we're putting together are available in real time as well. We're actually taking quite a look at how we compose all of our datasets. I think it's called “API”, although I never know what that stands for. The bottom line is that if you can link with developers of other things, then they can instantaneously get all the information. As we update our stuff, it can get updated.
To my mind, that's kind of the more intriguing possibility. Instead of me making one or two apps, let's get a dozen people out there who are doing different things and make sure they get the right information. Again, we get down to the consistency of the information that's getting out there. As to whether it's being incorporated into different types of apps for different types of things, I don't really care as long as people are getting the right information.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
I'm sorry, Mr. Hutchinson. Do you have an app right now for Health Canada?
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Is the app still up and working...?
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
It might be.
We do have an app. I just don't know whether it's a “did” or a “do” at this point, because we're in a transition period and it's based on the present food guide. We're about to move out of that, so that's the only—
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Okay, so you may have an app but it's in the process of being modernized.
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
No, I didn't say that either.
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
This particular app is completely based on the present food guide and what we're doing as we're—
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Exactly, so—
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
I'm just trying to find out. Can I download an app on my iPhone and get Canada's food guide? It's a pretty simple question. Can I get that or not?
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
I want to say yes. I just don't know whether, in this transition period, we have bothered to keep updating it. That's my only concern.
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
I'll get that information back to the committee.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
That's fine.
Dr. Critch, I want to go back to a question I asked you. It was a statement from November 7 that was issued by the Dietitians of Canada and the Canadian Paediatric Society, and it's the same thing I put to Madam Savoie. It says, “Soy, rice, or other plant-based beverages, whether or not they are fortified, are inappropriate alternatives to cow milk in the first two years.”
Are they appropriate alternatives to cow milk after the first two years?
Chair, Nutrition and Gastroenterology Committee, Canadian Paediatric Society
Probably not, because they're not nutritionally equivalent, most of those formulas.
In the first two years of life—which is not your question—the concern there is about the developing child and their need for protein and their need for calories. That's why we use whole milk in the first two years of life.
Sorry, let me qualify that. From one year to two years of life the recommendation is whole milk, or breast milk, preferably. After two years of life we don't advocate that as an equivalent choice.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
From the other point of view, given that milk products contain nutrients that are vital to human health, such as calcium and potassium, that other protein-rich foods do not contain, do you have any concern that the elimination of the milk and alternative products category from the food guide could send the message that all proteins are the same?
Chair, Nutrition and Gastroenterology Committee, Canadian Paediatric Society
I'm not even sure that has been decided yet. Maybe Dr. Hutchinson can clarify if it has been decided or not.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Mr. Hutchinson, I'm trying to get at where the controversy seems to be. I suspect it's that, is it? Is there a proposal to eliminate the milk and alternative products category or to move something...?
Can you elucidate on what the issue is there?
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
I think it might have been a bit of a misunderstanding. We have not made any decision to remove or regroup or rename any of the food categories. Where that probably comes from is that we're going forward with a very different approach from what we've had in the past. What we're really developing at this particular point is a policy document based on general healthy eating recommendations.
The part where we get into a pattern is where we're doing that deeper dive into the modelling of what those could be, but we're still another year or so away from that. I can only tell you whether or not there will be those patterns when I get that deeper analysis. Because with our modelling we want to ensure there is a healthy eating pattern and you're making sure you're getting enough of the nutrients you need and not too many that you don't need. There are different ways you can do that. That's the sort of in-depth modelling that we are working on right now.
The next thing is that you could have a food pattern, but who is that really for?
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
I'm going to stop you there because I'm not really interested in the modelling. I'm interested in trying to find out what the issue is with dairy. I have to say that after this whole meeting I still do not understand what the issue out in the public is, and in the dairy industry, about the proposals to the changes to the food guide about dairy.
Can any of you explain to me, in a crisp way, what the issue is here with respect to dairy and the proposed new food guide?
