Health committee  Honourable members of the Standing Committee on Health, thank you for inviting us to appear before you to discuss the revision of Canada's Food Guide. My name is Nathalie Savoie. I'm the chief executive officer for Dietitians of Canada. Dietitians of Canada is the national pro

Health committee  I think one way to do that is certainly to improve the food skills of children. We know that prepared food is more expensive than basic ingredients. When you cook at home, you can select ingredients that may not be that expensive. You can feed yourself quite well, with good nutri

Health committee  Thank you for the question. Really, our members also asked Health Canada to be more precise with regard to that message, because we felt there was a potential for misunderstanding. I talked earlier about healthy dietary patterns, and those with the most evidence are the ones wi

Health committee  Me again?

Health committee  Maybe Dr. Hutchinson can go.

Health committee  I would just add that as Dr. Hutchinson said, this is a basis and then professionals who work with clients and patients can use that to customize it even more to that particular person they have in front of them, because there are food preferences, budgets, as we spoke about befo

Health committee  Our member dietitians work in a one-on-one relationship with their patients and they may recommend aspartame-sweetened products for a particular person if they feel that perhaps they're drinking a lot of pop and it would be better for them to reduce. It may be part of the conside

Health committee  I don't like the taste.

Health committee  I'll just add that on the Internet you'll find a lot of pseudo-science and I think the connection with brain tumours may be just that. I'm quite positive that it is safe in a normal amount.

Health committee  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.

Health committee  You will understand that today I'm here as the chief executive officer of Dietitians of Canada—

Health committee  —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 f

Health committee  Yes, I am.

Health committee  The position of the Dietitians of Canada is the position of the 800 members who expressed themselves.

Health committee  Right now I'm here to represent the whole membership and not here in my previous role. But I can concur that the comment that Dietitians of Canada gave to Health Canada to be very cognizant of the understanding of that protein-based group is consistent with the concern that the D