Changes to food labels proposed

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Eating healthy is a priority for a lot of us, but it’s not always easy to figure out the ingredients in the foods we buy. That’s why Health Canada is proposing redesigned nutrition labels, that would highlight food products that contain a lot of sugar. As Kate Carnegie reports, the labels will also reflect realistic serving sizes.

The proposed changes to food labels are the result of feedback from more than 10,000 canadians -including parents. Ingredient lists will now be easier to read and when sugar is listed, a manufacturer would have to spell out all the sugar-related ingredients in the food, such as molasses or fruit juice concentrate.

“We will see them jump to the top of ingredient list for many products like granola bars and cereals and I think consumers will be surprised it’s the first ingredient by weight in many of those products” says Dietician Kate Comeau.

But how much is too much sugar? A guideline on the label will state that under five per cent is “a little” sugar and 15 per cent or more is “a lot.” And for certain foods the serving size will reflect the way we actually eat. Take bread for example, the nutritional facts are based on one slice of bread. You have a sandwich and it’s two slices of bread. so the new labels will reflect that with two.

“We think that this will continue to promote healthy eating and living to make Canadians the healthiest people in the world” explains Health Minister Rona Ambrose.

And Canada’s Food Guide is going digital with an app called “my food guide”.

All you need to do is type in your age and gender, choose your favourite foods and the app does the work for you. Don’t expect the changes to happen overnight. Health Canada is giving food manufacturers 5 years to switch over to the new labels.