Health committee  Health Canada is fully committed to evaluating the impact of the nutrition labelling regulations once they're more fully in place. As I've mentioned, the implementation date was December 2005, which was just a little over a year ago, so it's premature to be doing a full evaluatio

Health committee  From Health Canada's perspective, the types of complaints we generally receive are concerns from the public about the nutrient profile of such a product or another product. They're concerned, basically, that it's maybe not a healthy food, or things of that nature. I'll ask CFIA

Health committee  Yes. When we implemented the nutrition labeling regulations, we were required to do a detailed business cost impact, and it was in the order of $260 million over three years, although to add a logo would probably cost about half, because companies wouldn't have to do the analysis

Health committee  On the tracking of nutrition trends, I'm sorry, I don't have the language profile handy.

Health committee  Health Canada hasn't formally considered or examined this issue in detail. We are certainly aware of the myriad of programs that are available around the world, but haven't done a formal policy analysis to determine what would be an enhancement to nutrition labelling here in Cana

Health committee  I'd say certainly we're aware of activities in the U.K. and Australia and with other regulators through our regular contacts. At this point, our priority is to finish implementing the nutrition labelling regulations. They're not fully in force. Those for small and medium-sized bu

Health committee  Health Canada is committed to the nutrition labelling regulation that we have in place as a source of full, authoritative information for Canadians. However, we are aware that there is a growing confusion for consumers, and if at some point it was thought there was an appropriate

Health committee  I can't say how many companies percentage-wise, but almost every week there are new announcements of additional companies or restaurants eliminating or reducing trans fats significantly. It's almost hard to keep up at this point.

Health committee  I don't have that information handy.

Health committee  The criteria for content claims are set out in regulation, and they're measured against the information provided on the nutrition facts panel. The accuracy of those claims is enforced by CFIA.

Health committee  Health Canada supports Canadians using the nutrition facts panel as the source of information to make their food choices. As I've mentioned earlier, some of the logos or symbols that we see on packages describe only one aspect of the nutrition in a positive way, but don't descr

Health committee  I don't recall the exact sample size, but it was in the order of a few thousand, and it was done by phone. It's from the Canadian Council of Food and Nutrition, its Tracking Nutrition Trends Survey. It was basically a phone survey to ask Canadians about their habits.

Health committee  Self-reporting, yes.

Health committee  Yes, I think that conducting surveys is often difficult when they're self-reporting. At this point it's an opportunity to track changes in people's awareness over time. Whether the awareness translates into a different action is a separate question that needs to be approached in

Health committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm Janet Beauvais, director general of the food directorate at Health Canada. I'm pleased to be here with you again today to speak further about nutrition labelling in Canada and how nutrition labelling can assist Canadians in making healthy food choice