“At the time I was Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Health Committee we Liberals organized to have testimony on trans fats, heard about the failures of voluntary reductions, and called for regulations. Trans fats have zero nutritional value and are harmful – why allow continued over-use in our foods? The government must act!” – Joyce
Tuesday February 7, 2012
By: Sarah Schmidt, Ottawa Citizen
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq killed a plan to impose strict limits on trans fats in food products that would have been in place by now, internal records show.
The announcement, set for the fall of 2009 with a twoyear phase-in, was needed “to protect all Canadians from high trans-fat intakes and to ensure there is a level playing field for industry,” according to notes prepared for Aglukkaq in September 2009. The accompanying draft news release prepared on Oct. 1, 2009, signed off by the director general of Health Canada’s food directorate and the department’s assistant deputy minister of public affairs, was titled: “Health Canada announces regulations to limits trans fat in Canadian foods.”
“Despite progress made” voluntarily by the food industry, “Health Canada recognizes that further action is needed,” Aglukkaq says in the draft release. “Health Canada plans to pre-publish the proposed trans fat regulations in Canada Gazette in January 2010. Once regulations have passed, the food industry will have a 12-month transition period before the regulations become mandatory.”
The move, to which large food companies objected, was to be announced alongside the release of the final set of data from Health Canada’s Trans Fat Monitoring Program, according to Health Canada records released to the Centre for Science in the Public Interest.
The monitoring program was set up after former health minister Tony Clement convened a trans fat special task force to come up with a plan to reduce trans fats in foods. Clement accepted the advice and gave the industry two years to meet reduction targets on their own or face regulations. The targets were set at no more than two per cent trans fat in the fat content of vegetable oils and spreadable margarine and five per cent in all other foods.
When the communications package was sent to the offices of the health minister and her deputy for review in the fall of 2009, the trans fat announcement was shelved, according to the records.
On Oct. 28, 2009, a communications co-ordinator informed colleagues that the deputy minister of health “does not want comms products to mention anything about regulating as the decision to regulate is still pending. We should just talk about the posting of the data.”
The documents indicate top Health Canada officials did not give up on their push to regulate trans fats, but the effort failed.
Despite “significant reductions” in pre-packaged foods and major fast-food chains, “critical gaps in industry take-up remain (primarily bakery and food service sectors),” one ministerial briefing stated.
In addition to levelling the playing field for all industry, the briefing says the move is “expected” by the provinces and territories.
