Just in case you need another reason to cook more frequently, the Canadian government has given the Canadian food industry the biggest birthday present ever - the end of oversight.
Yup, with our most recent budget the Harper Conservatives have elected to stop funding the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to oversee the accuracy and integrity of our food labels.
According to the budget document,
"The government will change how the Canadian Food Inspection Agency monitors and enforces non-health and non-safety food labelling regulations. The CFIA will introduce a web-based label verification tool that encourages consumers to bring validated concerns directly to companies and associations for resolution"According to veteran Postmedia health and public affairs reporter Sarah Schmidt, "non-health and non-safety" includes, "net quantity" and "size".
So what does that mean for you?
It means the food industry has just been told that Mom and Dad are going away on vacation and they've left the liquor cabinet open and $200 cash on the dining room table to, "use as you kids see fit".
What do you think is going to happen? Do you think the food industry's going to ensure it reports calories and sizes accurately?
Given that it doesn't even do so now, I'm thinking whatever small amount of trying they once did is about to be shuttered.
But here's my question for the Government. How are "net quantity" and "size" both "non-health" regulations? Canadians with diet related chronic diseases including obesity, diabetes, kidney failure, hypertension and more count on labeling accuracy in quantities and sizes to help them make more thoughtful and healthful decisions.
Daniel Tencer from the Huffington Post managed to interview Bob Kingston, the President of the Agricultural Union that represents food inspectors on this recent announcement. His quote on the matter pretty much sums it up,
"it's a total farce"Indeed. A sad one at that.
Here's hoping the vague language of "non-health and non-safety" allows for backpedaling.
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All the more reason to buy non-processed food products. Fresh fruit, veggies, fresh meat & fish don't need labels.
ReplyDeleteYes they do still need labels - for those with diabetes, renal failure, congestive heart failure, these are still important things they need to know and require accuracy (for example, carbohydrate loads, potassium, sodium etc and in what PORTION size is critical).
DeleteIf only this were an April Fools prank. I agree with anonymous that now is the time to go back to cooking real foods.
ReplyDeleteSo I have a question for the government then, why do we even waste money on labelling? If 75% of labels are inaccurate, wouldn't we save even more money just by getting rid of labels altogether?
ReplyDeleteThat was 75% of _imported_ food labels.
DeleteThis is such an important issue that I shared it on both my FB page as well as my personal page. I wonder what this will mean for our future health? Scary!
ReplyDeleteAwesome, let's let the food industry, you know the one that invented the pink slime to police their own label accuracy... WIN! ;)
ReplyDeletere non- processed food -
ReplyDeleteYou can get nutritional info on unprocessed food - but you have to measure the quantity you're using and work it out.
For multiple ingredient home made dishes that's a pain.
Is there an app for that?
Enter each ingredient and quantity and get total nutrition info for the whole dish, and also for 1 serving when you specify how many servings there are?
Add on the ability to total info per meal and per day.
Great for people watching calories or sodium or what ever.
It must be out there somewhere ... any ideas??
@ Anonymous: Master Cook is a program I quite like to calculate recipes (insert all ingredients/amounts and total number of portions and it spits out all the nutritional info (ie. fat, calories, carbs, sodium), but the version I have (a few years old now) is missing the sugar (pretty big oversight in the program design). There are definately other programs out there as well as app's.
DeleteI have utter disgust for anyone that voted Conservative.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya! The Harperites are a scary bunch! What Canadians need right now is a flagship party - One party that everyone who hates the Harperites will vote for. Instead of dividing our votes amongst non Harperites, combine our vote for one mega, anti-Harperite party. The Harperites are worse than diseased infested political slime! Brian Molroony's government was tame, compared to the Harperites! We are now an unofficial State, under the Harperites!
DeleteThis is so strange!!
ReplyDeleteWhy do people have to tell others what kind of food is healthy and what food is not? How about a little common sense. It is at the end of the day your responsibility to eat well and live healthily and a calorie here and there really does not make a difference, but eating processed food and all the refined foods, white flower products etc are the scary part. Nobody holds a gun against your head and says: 'Eat this now or else'. It's not a government responsibility, it's your own.
ReplyDeleteHow can you make an informed decision to eat healthier foods if the information you're given is wrong?
DeleteIs there a petition we can sign to protest this? The food industry needs more over-site, not less.
ReplyDeleteThis is ridiculous.
ReplyDelete(btw, my captcha just swore at me. I'm going to assume that comment was for the Canadian government.)
> The accuracy and integrity of our food labels.
ReplyDeleteSo now they can feed us food from Japan (Fukushima even) and we will be none the wiser. Fantastic.
un-beeee-lievable
ReplyDelete