Health committee  I'll just make a couple of comments. The sodium working group did recognize the need to educate the consumer, and in actual fact that's one of the prongs of the sodium reduction strategy. One of the recommendations was for the federal government to have a very broad social marke

Health committee  Making the reductions in processed food with respect to sodium is a complicated process, as I outlined in my presentation. Everybody agrees that food safety is paramount, so that has to be factored in, in particular with processed meat slices, as an example. There are technica

Health committee  Yes. It was, as I note in my presentation, launched in 2010. It is a collaborative effort among Health Canada, food manufacturing companies who are members of FCPC, and McDonald's, who is not a member of FCPC. It is basically designed to help consumers look at the nutrition fact

Health committee  I'm not sure how to answer that question. As everybody knows, energy drinks have been the subject of a consultation process with Health Canada. Industry has, through the Canadian Beverage Association, been very engaged in discussions on how to make sure that the product on the sh

Health committee  Okay. I will close by saying thank you for the opportunity. There is more detail in the full submission that you've received from us. Thanks again.

Health committee  Good morning, everyone. Food and Consumer Products of Canada welcomes this opportunity to contribute to the Standing Committee on Health's study on health promotion and disease prevention as it relates to healthy eating. For those who don't know us, FCPC is the voice of Canada'

Health committee  I'd just like to reiterate the key components. There is work being done at all levels within the agrifood system to find ways to mitigate trans fat in the food supply, from the seed developers right through to the baking industry looking for alternative thin products. These have

Health committee  In summary, FCPC and our members are committed to continuing to work with government and are committed to continuing to find ways to reduce trans fats in the Canadian food supply.

Health committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. As you know, Food and Consumer Products of Canada is the trade association that represents the food manufacturing industry in Canada. We welcome this opportunity to speak to the Standing Committee on Health regarding the industry's efforts to reduce tran

Health committee  One aspect of the voluntary prong is important to note. It's not just willy-nilly voluntary; it's a structured approach whereby we're sitting down and looking at the food categories and developing targets. Secondly, we have built into--

Health committee  Built into the terms of reference is that through implementation, when we monitor, we monitor to see if the strategy is working. And if it isn't, we are mandated to come back to the table as a working group, evaluate where we see failure, and make new recommendations.

Health committee  We're in the process of setting up target dates along the way. Right now on the table--and probably it will be sorted out at our next May meeting--2012, 2014 are likely going to be times built in when we look at what's happening, not just with the reduction of sodium but with con

Health committee  No. That again would be information specific to an individual corporation and their corporate decisions. In large part, they develop their product profiles to suit the consumer audience they're addressing. But this isn't an issue that a trade association manages. That's individua

Health committee  It could be for a number of reasons. I really don't know why individual companies make those choices. It has to do, in large part, with the audience they're addressing, the consumers and the country they're working in.

Health committee  I'm not sure. The only World Health Organization meeting I know of in October is related, I think, to bisphenol A, not sodium. The working group hasn't been made aware of any pending meeting. That one I know of, because it's another file I manage. But on sodium, I'm not aware of