Food Security Assembly 2004

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Food Security Assembly 2004

• Food Safety and Food Security
• Precautionary Principle, Federal Food Regulatory
  Initiatives, Future of Food and More
• Panel on Safe and Nutritious Food
• Jean-Charles Le Vallée

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Overview of Presentation

• Food Regulatory Bodies
• Food Safety, Concerns, Behaviour, Labeling, GMOs
  and More
• The Way Forward ?

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Aim

• To inform audience/readers on Canadian regulatory
  structures and on debated issues over food
  security and safety
• To raise questions addressing future food policy.

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Background

• Canadian legislation dealing with the
  adulteration of food dates back to 1874.
• Current Food and Drugs Act was proclaimed in
  1954, replacing one enacted in 1920.

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Precautionary Principle

• Guiding principle for the application of
  precaution to science-based decision making in
  areas of federal regulatory activity in sectors
  such as health, food safety, and the conservation
  of natural resources and the environment.
• The application of precaution recognizes that the
  absence of full scientific certainty shall not be
  used as a reason for postponing decisions where
  there is a risk of serious or irreversible harm.

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Regulation

• Appropriate regulation is determined through a
  comprehensive public policy analysis identifying
  both the risks and the benefits of the technology
  in order to identify those approaches that can
  best achieve the desired risk-benefit balance.

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Federal Strategy

• To protect the health of Canadians through
  national science-based and coordinated policies,
  standards, regulation, inspection and
  surveillance,compliance and enforcement, risk and
  benefit assessment, research, public engagement,
  communication, and education programs related to
  foods.

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Food Directorate

• Part of a national food safety system that
  involves Health Canada, the Canadian Food
  Inspection Agency, AAFC, and provinces,
  territories and municipalities.
• The federal health authority is responsible for
  establishing policies, setting standards and
  providing advice and information on the safety
  and nutritional value of food.

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Food Directorate

• conduct scientific research
• conduct health risk and benefit assessments
• developing policies, standards and guidelines,
  such as for approval of new food additives
• evaluating submissions from the food industry
• providing information to support Canadians in
  their decisions about food and diet.

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Food Directorate in HC

• Bureau of Biostatistics and Computer Applications
• Bureau of Chemical Safety
• Bureau of Food Policy Integration
• Bureau of Food Regulatory, International and
  Interagency Affairs
• Bureau of Food Safety Assessment
• Bureau of Microbial Hazards
• Bureau of Nutritional Sciences
• Office of Policy and Strategic Planning

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Other Players

• The Canadian Food Inspection System
  Implementation Group (CFISIG) develops model
  regulations and codes of practice to move Canada
  toward a more unified food inspection system.
• AAFC Agriculture Policy Framework
• Canadas Action Plan for Food Security
• Integrated Pan-Canadian Healthy Living Strategy
• BC Food Safety Act QC Food Product Act ON Food
  Safety and Quality Act.

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Other Players

• Food Value Chain Bureau
• Canadian On-Farm Food Safety Program
• Canadian Food Safety Adaptation Program
• FightBac! Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food
  Safety Education
• Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety
  (University of Guelph)
• Canada Customs and Revenue Agency

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The F/P/T Committeeon Food Safety Policy

• Federal/Provincial/Territorial Legislation
  Relative to Food Safety
• FPTCFSP Protocol on Information-sharing and
  Collaboration
• Risk Categorization Model for Food Retail / Food
  Service Establishments
• The Foodborne Illness Outbreak Response Protocol
  Model Guideline for Food Safety in Food Banks

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Codex Alimentarius

• The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in
  1963 develop food standards, guidelines and
  related texts under the Joint FAO/WHO Food
  Standards Programme.
• Purpose of programme is to protect the health of
  the consumers and ensuring fair trade practices
  in the food trade.

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SPS, HACCP

• Sanitary and phytosanitary issues related to the
  adoption and enforcement, by a country, are
  measures necessary to protect human, animal or
  plant life or health SPS provisions are
  essential elements in international trade
  agreements, e.g.WTO, NAFTA.
• Hazards Analysis Critical Control Point a Paper
  Trail

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Food Safety and More

• Consumer Behaviour
• Food Insecurity
• Food Chain
• Concerns, Labeling
• Food Safety

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Behaviour

• Canadians spent 55.8 billion in grocery stores,
  29.9 billion in various foodservice outlets
  (e.g. restaurants, institutions and hotels), and
  19.5 billion on alcoholic beverages (2000).
• The average Canadian spent around 1 625 on
  groceries (1996).

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Behaviour

• Canadian consumers spent 13.6 of their personal
  disposable income on food and non-alcoholic
  beverages in 1974, in 1983 the share was 10.9
  and in 1997 it was almost 10. Estimates for 2000
  indicate 8.9 of PDI to food (historical low).
• Food insecure much higher share PDI 23

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Behaviour

• Slow population growth
• Changing composition of population
• Elderly, cultural diversity, smaller families
• Consumers want affordable food
• More health consicous, however, overweight
  obesity levels rising, physical activity
  decreasing
• Identity, statement of place

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Food Insecurity

• When experiencing food insecurity, almost half
  reduce the quality of their foods
• Twice as food insecure if smoke or consume
  alcohol or depressed
• More food insecure if under BMI 20 or over BMI
  30, least food insecure if 25-30
• More secure if you eat 5 portions of fruits and
  vegetables daily
• Single mothers, divorced greatest food insecure
  along with aboriginal peoples
• Three times more food insecure if renting

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Food Insecurity

• Food is the flexible budget item it is cut back
  at the expense of other more immediate demands
  coming from agencies that can threaten
  utilities, debt, rent.
• Personal costs of poverty remain hidden
• Food should be a basic utility product like water
  a public health service

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Food Chain

• Production (animal husbandry and fisheries)
• Processing, Packaging, Storage, Distribution,
  Exchange, Marketing
• Preparation and Consumption
• Waste, Regulations, Inputs
• Food Provision Concept (PP and FF)

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Quality and Preferences

• Food quality has different definitions along the
  chain. For example
• Producers Technological, ecological attributes
• Consumers Taste, variety, freshness,
  convenience, access, healthy, nutritious, safety,
  environment, appearance, trust

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Motivations
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(No Transcript)
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Consumer Education

• Concerns
• Labelling, e.g. Dk, Origin, Fair Trade, Organic
• Traceability controls
• Certification, standardized labels (QC, BC)

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Future Labelling?

• GMOs, if gt0,9 then transgenic label in EU
• Market share of the price the producer,
  wholesaler and retailer receive, e.g. France
• Distance traveled on receipts, e.g. organic
  stores
• Lets Go Metric Kilojoules! And not kcal.
  Everywhere but not North America
• Glycemic Index and BMI, Australia
• Restaurant Labelling non-existant, fast foods a
  must

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Example of labelling from Mexico (Corn Flakes)
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Mandatory Nutrition Labelling

• Since January 1, 2003, there is now mandatory
  nutrition labelling for domestic and imported
  pre-packaged foods affecting also content and
  health claims
• Must comply by 2006-2008.
• Pre-packaged foods only, need to broaden.

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Food Safety in Canada

• Consistent with Canadas National Security Policy
  (NSP), food safety has been recognized as being
  important to Canadas national security
  interests.
• Greater accountability required from private
  sector between producer and consumer
• Food sovereignty greater control, power over
  food

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En français

• Salubrité des aliments or
• Sûreté des aliments
• as is used correctly by AAFC
• Not sécurité alimentaire

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Sources of Unsafe Food

• Microbiological risks (foodborne illnesses
  E.Coli 0157, Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp.,
  and bovine spongiform encephalopathy)
• Chemical risks (veterinary drugs, pesticides,
  heavy metals, industrial pollutants, natural
  toxins, food additives)
• Biotechnological risks (GMOs?)
• Physical/Technological risks (irradiation of
  food, and modified-atmosphere packaging, objects)

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Costs in Canada

• Foodborne illnesses, and diet-related chronic
  diseases (e.g diabetes, and obesity) continue to
  pressure Canadas health care system
• One million Canadians suffer from foodborne
  illnesses each year
• Diet-related chronic diseases costs an estimated
  6.6 billion in direct and indirect health care
  costs and lost productivity each year.

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Costs

• BSE cost 1 billion in compensation to cattle
  producers.
• Recovery from the loss of trust/consumer
  confidence and markets due to animal, fish, plant
  diseases or contamination is increasingly costly
  and protracted, e.g. publicity surrounding PCB
  levels in salmon resulted in a 20 drop in market
  share for the fish industry.

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Foodborne Diseases

• Food and waterborne diarrhoeal diseases are
  leading causes of illness and death in less
  developed countries, killing some 1,8 million
  people annually, most of whom are children.

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Biotechnological Risks

• No known risk, BUT uncertainties remain
• Risk assessment and communication required
• Limitations in methods for safety testing
• Evidence of political pressure to minimize
  regulatory hurdles?
• Excluding public, and ignoring objections?

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Biotechnological Risk

• The weaknesses in regulations for safety testing
  are compounded by the decision to not impose
  mandatory labeling, thereby inhibiting consumer
  choice, post-market surveillance and potential
  liability claims.
• It is about values-based concerns and the
  promotion of a technologically-based solution for
  an uncertain potential problem that is
  fundamentally social and political in character.

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Need for Change

• Consumers may benefit from cheaper food but there
  are quality implications and health
  externalities, e.g. degenerative diseases, social
  and environmental costs this will change
  politics of food as insufficient GDP
• Need to act, avoid morbidity, worsening stature,
  body compositioning, intergenerational
  transmission nutritional outcomes
• Swap consumer individual oriented policies for
  public health and citizenship

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Way Forward

• National Food Policy Framework
• Relocating Canadas Food Security Bureau
• Sustainable Food System Approach
• Food Observatory monitoring role
• A Future Peoples Food Council, Food Commission
• Provider responsability, self-regulation, trust
• Economic globalization14 digit UPC uniform code

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National Food Policy Framework

• Intended to provide a policy basis for
  improvement in the overall management of Canadas
  food system by developing a common vision and an
  integrated and coordinated governance
  architecture, that can optimize the use of public
  funds across departments, jurisdictions and
  sectors, as well as segments of the industry, in
  order to meet the expectations Canadians have for
  the food they eat.

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Key NFPF Themes

• Food Safety
• Food System Management
• Building a Future for Canadas Agri-Food Sector
• Supporting Consumer Choice at Home and Export
  Needs Abroad
• Food from a Population Health Perspective