Newsletter #12
August/September 2001In this issue:
Food labeling in Canada
Almost five years of hard work by consumer advocacy groups working to change Canada's food labeling laws is starting to show promising results. On June 14th, Health Canada unveiled its proposed regulatory amendments in this area. Under the proposal, almost all packaged food would require an easy-to-read label nutrition label to help consumers make nutritionally-informed food choices. A similar system is already in place in the United States.Taking the mystery out of buying and eating healthily, if this proposal becomes law, Canadian consumers can expect to see exactly how much fat (including saturated and trans fat), sugars, sodium, protein and other nutrients they are getting in their food, as well as how the amount of these nutrients compares to a complete daily recommended value (DV). Full details of the proposed law can be found in the Canadian government's official newspaper, the Canada Gazette, and the Canadian government is accepting public input into the proposed amendments until Friday September 14th.
Although the changes are welcome, and Health Canada deserves special praise for requiring that damaging trans fats be listed on the new labels, the proposed labeling laws do fall short in several critical areas:
Folic acid, a nutrient where deficiency has been strongly linked to neural tube birth defects and high blood pressure, is not required to be included on food labels. Disclosure of this important nutrient will help women of child-bearing age to choose foods high in folic acid, thereby reducing the risk of this birth defect, as well as help Canadians select heart healthy foods as part of their balanced diet.
Meat, poultry, fish and seafood will generally not be required to carry a nutritional label. This means that consumers will not be able to see the high amounts of saturated fat and low fibre contents of these foods. Likewise in-store baked goods, which are often high in sugar, fat and calories while being low in other nutrients and fibre, are also exempt under the current proposal. Canadians need to be able to see these numbers for themselves to be able to make informed food choices and be best able to follow the Canada Food Guide.
Also under the proposal, foods meeting certain criteria will be allowed to make one of five health claims. For example, foods high in calcium will be able to make the claim that "a healthy diet with adequate calcium and vitamin D, and regular physical activity, help to achieve strong bones and may reduce the risk of osteoporosis". A mouthful, but one that implies that if a food is high in calcium that it is healthy. But not all calcium-rich food is healthy. Canadian consumers may be trading off a reduced risk of osteoporosis for an increased risk of high cholesterol, heart disease and stroke if they are choosing calcium-rich foods that are also high in saturated fat. Ice-cream, cheese and pizza are three offenders that come immediately to mind. Similarly, claims linking fruits and vegetables to reduced cancer risk may be able to appear on products like ketchups, relishes and fruit jams; products that are generally not consumed in sufficient quantities to reap the benefit of the claim, but generally do contain enough sodium and/or sugar to be considered a potential health hazard. Allowing claims is a good idea, but claims should be limited to products that promote good all-around health and not on products that may prevent one disease while promoting another.
Health Canada's proposed revisions to the food laws are a welcome step in the right direction, and the Canadian government should hear how Canadians feel about these proposed changes. Comments on the proposal are due by September 14th 2001. Comments can be sent via e-mail to sche-ann@hc-sc.gc.ca, via fax to (613) 941-3537 or via regular mail to:
Mr Ronald Burke, Director
Re: Nutritional Labeling, Nutrition Claims, and Health Claims
Bureau of Food Regulatory, Internation and Intragency Affairs
Health Canada
Room 2395, Address Locator 0702C1
Health Protection Building, Tunney’s Pasture
Ottawa ON K1A 0L2
If you don't feel like writing your own letter, the Canadian Centre for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has posted a letter on its website that can be copied, personalised and sent to Health Canada. The letter was originally intended for the medical community but is equally useful for general application. In addition, CSPI recently mailed out to its members a postcard that can be mailed to Mr. Burke. The postcard has been replicated on the Amanda's Kitchen site for your convenience, should you wish to use it. Finally, Amanda's Kitchen has posted its own letter template, which is available here.
- Apologies for this abbreviated issue and the silence in Amanda's Kitchen over the past few months; it has been a pretty hectic summer. For anybody who has emailed the kitchen with questions or story ideas, please be patient. Your emails are very much appreciated and I hope to get back to you within the coming weeks.
- Amanda's Kitchen is looking for volunteers to help write articles for the web site, and to translate articles from English to French. If you're interested please e-mail AmandasKitchen@yahoo.ca or consult the Writer's Guidelines.
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Amanda's Kitchen is devoted to introducing healthy
vegetarian and vegan cooking to everyone's kitchen.Disclaimer: This newsletter and the Amanda's Kitchen web site are not prepared by a registered dietician, nurse, doctor or other medically-qualified individual. Any health and nutrition information provided by Amanda's Kitchen is designed to support, not replace, information provided by a registered dietician or healthcare provider. Where appropriate, Amanda's Kitchen has endeavoured to support information contained on the site and newsletter by providing references to source data and, where possible, specific HTML links.Page last updated: September 3, 2001