VANCOUVER — Government regulations are preventing pulses from meeting their full market potential, says Pulse Canada.
Chris Marinangeli, director of nutrition, science and regulatory affairs with the organization, said food labelling regulations in Canada and the United States are overly restrictive.
Half a cup of black beans, chickpeas or lentils contains about nine grams of protein, which is a significant amount.
Yet food manufacturers in North America are not allowed to advertise that pulse-based products are a good source of protein because they don’t meet a certain protein quality threshold.
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“I could not make a protein claim on the food, but I could in Europe and Australia,” Marinangeli told delegates attending Pulses 2017.
“This is a good example of how the regulatory environment is a hard stop from tapping into those messages that are actually mattering to the consumer.”
Another example is the regulatory roadblock preventing food manufacturers from advertising that pulse-based food has a low glycaemic index. High glycaemic food can cause a spike in blood sugar levels.
The International Carbohydrate Quality Consortium recently said there is an urgent need to communicate glycaemic index information to the general public through dietary guidelines, food composition tables and food labels.
In Australia, companies can make glycaemic claims as long as the food meets a certain nutrient density threshold.
Diabetes Canada is working with Pulse Canada to help convince Health Canada to adopt a similar model as Australia.
“The good news is that Health Canada has opened the door a crack and is investigating permitting carbohydrate quality labelling on food,” said Marinangeli.
The other thing Pulse Canada would like to see is more countries adopting modern dietary guidelines.
“What we are seeing with the de-velopment of new dietary guidelines is that interplay between environmental sustainability and nutrition are creeping their way into the mix,” he said.
Countries such as Holland and Norway have food guidelines that incorporate sustainability goals that encourage consuming pulses, which don’t require a lot of water and fix their own nitrogen.
