TORONTO – The federal government is relying on the food industry to voluntarily reduce trans fats, an approach that appears to be working, says a canola industry executive.
In June 2007, Health Canada adopted a trans fat task force recommendation calling for a two percent trans fat limit in all vegetable oils and soft, spreadable margarines and a five percent limit for all other foods, including ingredients sold to restaurants.
The agency is monitoring the food industry and has published three reports detailing the sector’s progress in meeting the targets. The fourth and final report will be released in the summer of 2009.
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The Canadian food industry is being asked to police itself at a time when many cities, provinces, states and countries have passed legislation banning or restricting an unsaturated fat that contributes to coronary heart disease.
Canola has been one of the big beneficiaries of the trans fat bans because it provides a healthy alternative to the partially hydrogenated soybean oil that is responsible for much of the trans fat found in today’s food.
One canola industry executive said Canada’s method of controlling trans fats seems to be effective.
“The voluntary approach is working based on publishing the results. If they didn’t publish the results, the voluntary approach wouldn’t be working,” said Paul Brisebois, assistant vice-president of marketing and sales with Richardson Oilseeds Ltd.
Food manufacturers don’t want their names appearing on the published list of products that are not meeting the recommendations.
“People get embarrassed if they are offside. They want to make changes. They don’t want to be embarrassed. Board(s) of directors don’t get very happy with that,” he said.
But some jurisdictions believe in taking a more forceful approach. On March 7, British Columbia announced it would become the first province in Canada to restrict trans fat in restaurant food.
The province is adopting a mandatory, legislated approach to the trans fat task force’s recommendations. All food service establishments that require a permit to operate in B.C. must comply with the new regulation by Sept. 30, 2009.
Ottawa will decide whether it wants to go the mandatory enforcement route after its two-year monitoring program comes to an end this summer.
The latest set of monitoring data released on Feb. 12 shows there has been considerable progress in reducing trans fats in restaurants and grocery stores.
For instance, 78 percent of the 37 fast food chains sampled offer french fries that are living up to the five percent trans fat restriction and 80 percent of the pre-packaged foods selected for label review met the two percent limit.
But there are areas that need improvement.
The Health Canada survey showed that 65 percent of soft margarines are meeting the two percent trans fat goal.
The industrial baking sector is also having a difficult time making the transition due to taste concerns surrounding longstanding recipes. Only 25 percent of the croissants tested in laboratories met the limit, as an example.
Brisebois said the federal government will reassess its trans fat strategy in June 2009 to see if it wants to continue monitoring companies or to follow B.C.’s lead.
“Regulation isn’t easy to do, so I think that will be a tough decision for them,” he said.
