A worker reloads the products in the meat section of the Atlantic Superstore grocery store in Halifax on January 28. Kelly Clark / The Canadian Press
Health organizations are urging Ottawa to move forward with its food warning labels, expressing fears that further debate over minced meat could delay a critical program that is already overdue.
Since 2016, Health Canada has promised to introduce a program that requires packaged foods high in sugar, salt or saturated fat to display a warning label. The government plans to publish its plan in the coming weeks.
But as this timeline approaches, fears in the meat industry that some minced meats will require a “high-saturated fat” label have picked up. Last week, representatives of the meat industry, the Alberta government and federal Conservative MPs publicly called for the release of minced meat – and called on Ottawa to pause the process altogether.
But according to health groups – including those who support the release of minced meat – any delay would be a mistake.
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“Seven years of discussions have passed,” said Manuel Arango, director of health policy and advocacy at the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
He has been involved in the whole process with Health Canada – participating in many meetings and consultations with the food industry; observing the government’s promise of a labeling program in two election campaigns and four letters of mandate from the health minister.
“The volume of discussions and consultations that have taken place on this issue is almost unparalleled,” he said. “So we are very wary of people calling for more time for consultation and discussion because it is a delay tactic.”
A Diabetes Canada spokesman also called for a “quick entry into force” for the program.
“We encourage the federal government to consider exceptions when the evidence supports them,” said Ann Besner, senior manager at Diabetes Canada, “but not to delay the implementation of this critical set of regulations that will help move the needle on disease risk. in this country. “
Ms Besner said labels would not only help consumers make better choices, but would also encourage food producers to reformulate their products into healthier ones.
In a statement, Health Canada did not specifically address concerns about potential delays. Instead, the department stressed that the program is “widely recognized by health organizations as an effective tool for counteracting the growing levels of chronic diet-related diseases in Canada.”
The statement also emphasized that exceptions were granted only in specific circumstances.
Currently, about a quarter of older Canadians are categorized as obese. And the cost of diet-related diseases for our health care system is $ 26 billion every year. He is also responsible for 36,000 deaths a year.
The government’s labeling proposal, first introduced in 2016, is designed to help tackle this health crisis. This table of “nutrition facts” of food has long been criticized as poorly designed, inconsistent and confusing.
The new labels will be needed for all foods high in sugar, salt or saturated fat – any pre-packaged food with more than 15 percent of the daily recommended intake.
In Chile, where such labels are already used, the program has led to a 25 percent reduction in purchases of sugary drinks. About 37% of Chileans say labels have helped them make better food choices.
However, since the announcement of the proposal in Canada, government officials have been heavily lobbied by the food industry.
The government has already said it intends to allow exemptions for many products, including some dairy products and whole meat – in particular raw meat with one ingredient. But minced meat, which is considered “minimally processed”, was not included in the exceptions.
A spokesman for a Canadian nutritionist said the organization had no position on minced meat. But Erin McGregor, a registered nutritionist, said the exception would make sense – that putting a warning label on minced meat would be “oversimplifying.”
“Minced meat is a nutrient-rich choice, with strict labeling requirements already in place when it comes to fat content,” she said, given the existing labels of “medium”, “lean” and “extra lean”.
“If part of the mandate to label the front of the package is to help Canadians reduce their dependence on over-processed foods, it doesn’t make much sense to warn consumers about foods that will help,” she said. .
In both Chile and Mexico (which also has a similar labeling program), minced meat is released.
Mr Arango, of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, echoed Ms McGregor’s sentiments.
“This is not the whole, minimally processed – what I would call ‘real food’ is the problem,” Mr Arango said. “These are ultra-processed foods.”
To that end, he said, it is imperative that labels be put in place without delay.
“We need to finalize it because people need to be informed about what is in their food. It is [currently] “It’s very difficult for a lot of people – people with low literacy, poor eyesight, the elderly, newcomers,” he said.
“What is at stake is the health of Canadians.”
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