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.
December 5th, 2017 / 4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, everyone, for coming.
One of the things I'll congratulate you on, Dr. Hutchinson, is the front-of-package labelling. I think that's very important. I think there are a lot of people who aren't taking the time, or don't have the time, to read through the very bewildering array of information on these labels.
In front-of-package labelling is there provision for calorie count, as in the calories of your serving, and clearly laying out how many calories are in whatever serving you're going to be consuming?
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Certainly in the proposal that went forward for consultation last year there hasn't been an inclusion of calories. What has been looked at, and what we have commentary on, were these same three nutrients of public health concern, once again, the saturated fats, the sugars, and the sodium.
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Obviously on the side of pack and in the back of pack you do have the number of calories per serving.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Thank you.
Ms. Savoie, you talked about restaurants, and certainly you talked about the labelling of saturated fats and things. Are you a proponent of restaurants posting calorie counts on menus? Has that been studied extensively? I know there are some places that are legislating that.
4:50 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Dietitians of Canada
Yes, our members generally support that this information be given to consumers because people are looking for the information. When they're looking for it, it's easier if it's on the menu or if it's easily available, so they don't have to go through a full website to find it.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
I can say again from my unscientific “n=1” that I was scared silly in a pub the first time I saw a calorie count on the menu. I started changing some of my choices and I put some of my favourite things off to the side with a heavy heart.
In regard to things like when these are being developed, Dr. Hutchinson, have you been receiving much in the way of push-back or protest from different industry groups in developing this, or from your recommendations?
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
As I pointed out, I don't actually meet with any industry groups at all.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Have you been hearing that Health Canada has been receiving a lot of push-back?
4:50 p.m.
Director General, Office of Nutrition Policy and Promotion, Health Products and Food Branch, Department of Health
Certainly where I've seen it is the same place you've seen it. In the media there's been lots of that. I read the newspaper as well and I look at my Facebook. There has been a lot of push-back, you're right, at that particular level. When we get the consultations, because of the large numbers, of course, the analysis of the input, I don't actually see who is saying what. That all gets rolled up into themes. I get the feedback, and we'll be coming out with that sometime early next year in terms of what we heard during the consultation on the food guide. You might see that there's a bit of a concern by industry, but, again, it's grouped at a very high level. I can't say what's industry or not, but I know that is there as well.
We are considering everything that comes in. But in the end, of course, when we make our decisions on how to move forward on this based on the best available evidence that's out there. Then we actually have quite a large group of different experts who we go to. These can be experts across government, both within other parts of Health Canada or the Public Health Agency. We bring in the Departments of the Environment and Agriculture as well to look at that. We also have a large number of scientists from across Canada and beyond who have expertise in different areas of nutrition, who then give us their feedback on that.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
All right. Thank you very much.
Dr. Critch, did you have anything to add to these comments?
4:50 p.m.
Chair, Nutrition and Gastroenterology Committee, Canadian Paediatric Society
No, I'm good. Thank you.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Okay, thank you.
Those are all the questions I have, although I'll just simply add that, on aspartame, I drink a lot of Fresca so I guess that means I consume a lot of it.
Thank you very much.
4:50 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Madam Savoie, I'm going to direct my questions to you. I only have three minutes.
Milk and dairy was the issue we were all getting inundated with about the food guide, which I think really led to us wanting to study this, among other things. I understand in your previous role you were the assistant director for nutrition with the Dairy Farmers of Canada. I take it with that experience you would probably be able to tell us what the issue is that seems to be roiling around the issue of dairy and milk and the current proposals for the food guide.
4:50 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Dietitians of Canada
You will understand that today I'm here as the chief executive officer of Dietitians of Canada—
4:55 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Dietitians of Canada
—and this is the opinion that I'm sharing with you.
My previous role was to identify the possible unintended consequences that might come with the proposed regulations. Those were shared in the consultation process, but it's clear in the guiding principles that the variety of food does include milk, yogourt, and some cheeses. We, as Dietitians of Canada, have asked Health Canada to be very specific when they talk about protein sources, what they mean by that, and to make sure they are looking at identifying an adequate intake of calcium and vitamin D, which are two of the nutrients that are provided by milk products.
Also, a general recommendation that we've asked Health Canada is to make sure they monitor closely consumers' understanding of those recommendations and the different messages that will be out there, and they monitor the actual intake of people once the recommendations are out there.
4:55 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
In your previous role, I think you argued that the government should not group dairy products with other non-plant-based proteins. Your quote was:
They are not interchangeable foods.... If they are all lumped together, I don’t know how this will improve the health of Canadians. On the contrary, I would say it's a recipe for disaster.
Can you explain that to us a bit? Do the Dietitians of Canada endorse that?
