The Issue
Faced with the current reality of increased globalization and market liberalization, Canadians want more than ever before to know where their food comes from and how it is produced and modified.
Beyond nutrition and health questions, consumers now are considering the production methods of the entire agri-food chain. They are demanding more information and they are integrating environmental, social, cultural, ethical and political concerns into their food selection criteria.
This increased awareness has created a need for greater disclosure of information. Consumers, in addition to demanding precise nutritional details, are calling for clearer, more complete, transparent, coherent and standardized information, particularly regarding methods of production, processes of modification and origin of food products.
Food labelling should meet the needs of those consumers who not only make responsible choices for improved health but who also wish to influence the agri-food market to lead it towards production methods that are aligned with the principles of sustainable development.
Unfortunately current food labels leave consumers confused and ill-informed; this is confirmed by recent studies, like the one published in 2007 by l’Union des consommateurs.1 Moreover, a majority of consumers have little trust in the information provided by the agri-food industry and believe that many of the assertions found on labels are more for marketing purposes than for informational ones.
Given this new reality, Canadian food labelling rules regarding nutrition and health assertions must be re-examined to ensure they are easily understandable and not misleading.
In addition to clearer and more informative labelling, numerous studies have shown that the vast majority of Canadian consumers want the federal government to impose mandatory labelling of food containing genetically modified organisms (GMO).2 The Consumers Council therefore urges mandatory GMO labelling, to join the 40 countries around the world with similar legislation.
For more than ten years the Codex Alimentarius Committee on Food Labelling3 has sought to establish guidelines on GMO labelling. In the absence of such guidelines, countries imposing mandatory GMO labelling run the risk of having their regulations challenged under the terms of international trade agreements. However, so far the United States has repeatedly thwarted discussions on establishing guidelines, on the pretext of lack of consensus. Canada is one of a very few countries to consistently support the American position. At the last meeting of a Codex working group dealing with this issue (Accra, Ghana, January 2008), a discussion paper prepared by the United States, Canada and Nigeria was the object of severe criticism by the majority of the participating countries. Canada was the only country to continue to support the position held by the United States. This isolates us on the international stage and contradicts Canadian public opinion.
The Consumers Council believes that, within the framework of the Codex Alimentarius Commission discussions, the federal government should show transparency by adequately consulting consumer protection organizations before establishing its positions, and that it stop blindly supporting the American position.
In addition to these concerns, Canadians are sensitive to specific issues related to food production, particularly organic food production.We are consuming greater quantities of organically farmed produce. The Consumers Council is pleased that the federal government proposed Canadian regulations for the labelling of organic food products.
Also, growing numbers of consumers are concerned about the country of origin of the foods they consume and, for environmental or economic reasons, are looking for more local produce. Current labelling rules on the geographic origin of products are inadequate and do not tell consumers where the product originated.
Finally, consumers want better information about other health and environmental factors. For example, a large number of respondents said they would like food labels to identify the presence of pesticides, antibiotics or growth hormones;4 this information is important, they felt, but does not now appear clearly on labels.
Recommendations
In summary, the Consumers Council recommends:
- that the regulatory framework for nutritional labelling and health assertions be strengthened, specifically by eliminating all misleading representations, so that the information provided to consumers is clear, consistent and factually correct.
- that Canada respect Canadian consumers’ right to know and that it immediately impose mandatory GMO labelling;
- that the government authorities taking part in the Codex Alimentarius discussions put mechanisms in place to allow the effective participation of consumer protection organizations in the creation of the Canadian Codex delegation’s policy positions;
- that the rules for labelling of the geographic origin of food products be reviewed so that consumers are able to determine the origin of the food they are buying;
- that a permanent forum on the revision of food labelling regulation be created so that the rules may be adapted to meet the emerging concerns of consumers, and that this forum be composed of representatives from consumer protection associations as well as public health authorities.
1Union des consommateurs, “Les nouvelles tendances de consommation et l’information alimentaire: comment satisfaire le consommateur?” (April 2007); online: http://www.consommateur.qc.ca/union-des-consommateurs/docu/agro/etiquet_alim.pdf
2For example, an April, 2004 poll of 1500 Canadians by Léger Marketing for Greenpeace, Option consommateurs and l’Union des consommateurs, indicated that 83% of respondents were favorable to the mandatory labelling of genetically modified organisms (GMO).
3The Codex Alimentarius Committee on Food Labelling is the international body charged with considering international food labelling issues.
4Ibid.
