Consultations on restricting marketing to children, and revising Canada’s Food Guide

On October 24, 2016, the Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Health, launched the Healthy Eating Strategy for Canada. One of the intended outcomes of the Healthy Eating Strategy is to help make the healthier food choice the easier choice. In order to help achieve this, Health Canada is currently working on a number of initiatives including:

• new restrictions on marketing to children to support families in making healthier food choices; and,
• a revision of Canada’s Food Guide to better address the changing food environment and to support Canadians in making healthier food choices.

From June 10 to July 25, 2017, Health Canada is undertaking a 45-day consultation on each of these initiatives. Canadians and stakeholders are invited to participate in both consultations.

Restricting Marketing to Children

Health Canada is currently exploring options to fulfill our commitment to restrict marketing of unhealthy food and beverages to children.  Please provide your comments on Health Canada’s proposed approach by July 25, 2017.

Health Canada’s approach will be informed by existing policies in Canada and around the world. It will also take into account existing federal nutrition policies and regulations and use the same evidence and rationale on which those were based. Regulatory measures will ensure that all food and beverage companies are subject to the same marketing restrictions.

Please spread the news about this consultation to your colleagues and other interested parties.

Revision of Canada’s Food Guide

Health Canada is revising Canada’s Food Guide into a suite of tools and resources to provide Canadians with up-to-date advice on eating well.  An initial consultation was conducted in fall of 2016; the Revision of Canada’s Food Guide: What We Heard Report (Fall 2016) can be found here.

The second open consultation is now live, and will end July 25, 2017.

We want to hear from you again. Your input will be used to help:

• finalize healthy eating recommendations and policies
• inform ways to effectively communicate nutrition information to Canadians

As part of the revision process, Health Canada completed a review of evidence related to healthy eating. The Evidence Review for Dietary Guidance: Summary Report is available here. This report summarizes the results of the evidence review and implications for Canada’s Food Guide. The full technical report is also available on request by contacting Health Canada Publications.

Should you have any questions about these initiatives, please email nutrition@hc-sc-gc.ca with the subject line: Marketing to Children or Canada’s Food Guide revision. If you are interested in receiving information or participating in future consultation opportunities please add yourself to the CSIMS registry here:  http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/public-consult/stakeholder-intervenants/index-eng.php. For the “areas of interest” page, be sure to include ‘‘Canada’s Food Guide/Nutrition’’ in your selection.  All future communication from our Office will be sent using this new system.

The Government of Canada is committed to openness and transparency. Health Canada supports this commitment by making more information available to Canadians.  We are providing increased opportunities to participate in discussions on government policies and priorities.  We encourage you to carefully read our new approach to transparency of stakeholder communications.

Sincerely,