Health committee  There are some alternatives. That is essentially the challenge, to assess the safety and also the accessibility. It's also a fact that in a lot of instances—and that's based on best practices elsewhere, known internationally—some of the alternatives are not cheap and will of course have an effect on the affordability of the food.

Health committee  Absolutely, yes.

Health committee  Based on the data that is currently available, it is possible, since we have seen efforts to reduce consumption elsewhere. I do not want to speculate on the future. We will have to wait and see how these efforts to reduce consumption can be implemented. If other committee members are interested, I will explain some of the complex aspects of the issue.

Health committee  Labelling is not an end in and of itself; it is a tool but not a miracle solution. The main objective of labelling is to provide information, and setting up a panel on nutrition is already an important step. Furthermore, indicating amounts of sodium should be mandatory. In this case, recording the amount of sodium in a pre-packaged food is mandatory.

Health committee  This is not a recent problem, as was stated, but the issue has been raised to a much greater extent since 2007, and since the announcement from the health minister that a Sodium Working Group was going to be established. There has been extra impetus since 2007. That doesn't mean that no work was done on this previously.

Health committee  There has been some progress but it is not a simple issue. We started more intensive efforts later than other countries, such as the United Kingdom which began in 2006. It should be pointed out however that sodium intake in Canada, currently, without our having yet implemented all the necessary reduction steps, is below the sodium intake currently recorded in the United Kingdom, after two years of reduction efforts there.

Health committee  I could start.

Health committee  Yes, I could start maybe with some elements of answers—

Health committee  —and maybe my colleagues could complete it. Definitely you're highlighting the complexity of the problem, because essentially we have an ingredient here that is ubiquitous in the food supply, that is present in a number of commodities. So given the health impacts that were identified, it's clear that one approach will not be enough.

Health committee  There are definitely some delays in accomplishing the goals, and perhaps I would say there are several reasons for that. Some of it is related probably to the way the goals were set. There may have been over-ambitious goals originally when the sodium working group developed the different prongs of the approach that it would go through and realized while implementing that the data and the analysis that is required would be more thorough than originally anticipated.

Health committee  I guess there are two segments in your question, honourable member. You mentioned chemicals and additives, but you mentioned as well any types of issues related to food that have an impact on health. The answer to the second part of the question—whether there is an interest in developing a comprehensive approach to tackle various issues related to the food supply that are linked to chronic diseases and health and wellness—is yes.

Health committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, honourable members. At the outset, like Dr. Hutchinson, I would like to apologize to committee members for being unable to table my opening remarks with you today. Unfortunately, again time did not allow for translation to be completed on time and before the meeting.

Health committee  That's excellent. Thank you. I would like to use this introduction to focus on some of the actions, including the regulatory actions, that will help address the serious public health concerns related to overconsumption of sodium in the Canadian food supply. These actions include both actions that the government has already undertaken and further actions that Health Canada is considering.

Agriculture committee  It would be considered a data element that could be useful.

Agriculture committee  It is pretty much the same situation. At least in the scientific information that we have seen, there is minimum information right now that makes the comparison between organic products versus non-organic products vis-à-vis the presence of these types of contaminants. There are other studies that were done for other types of chemicals, but not necessarily for these types of contaminants.