Federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose has launched a series of online public consultations on proposed changes designed to improve the way nutrition information is presented on labels.
“These changes will make it easier to read and understand labels and help Canadians make healthy food choices for themselves and their families,” said Ambrose.
The proposed changes are to the format of the nutrition facts table, the list of ingredients, the list of nutrients that must appear in the table, and to the daily values.
It also includes changing how ingredients are listed, including grouping sugars together, so parents and consumers have a clearer picture of how much sugar is added to the food and the label is easier to read.
Finally, another key proposal is to provide guidelines to industry to make the serving sizes displayed in the nutrition facts table more consistent among similar products.
The overall goal of the proposed changes is to provide Canadians with the nutrition information they need to make informed decisions about the foods they consume.
The consultations began on July 14 and will run until Sept. 11.
The process has the endorsement of groups such as Dietitians of Canada (DOC).
“Using consistent serving sizes on the food label and updating the percent daily value to reflect current dietary reference intakes are two changes that will support dietitians as they educate Canadians to make informed food choices,” said Janice Macdonald, director of communications for DOC.
Canada is already considered a world leader in the field of nutrition labelling and was one of the first countries to require mandatory nutrition labelling on pre-packaged foods.
