Do you see a pattern on food files at Health Canada under Leona Aglukkaq?

[icosaface]

Sarah Schmidt
July 21, 2012

Quote:After discovering Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq quietly killed back in 2009 a departmental proposal to regulate trans fat levels in processed food, I wanted to find out if the issue was dead. After all, the department’s plan was drafted in accordance with a commitment from Aglukkaq’s predecessor, Tony Clement, to regulate if industry didn’t make enough progress under a voluntary program, tracked by Health Canada’s monitoring program. So, I filed an access to information to see if the issue was being discussed at Health Canada’s Food Expert Advisory Committee.

Turns out departmental officials wanted to revisit the issue after Aglukkaq quashed their 2009 proposal, so they solicited the advice of their external expert committee, established in 2010 to weigh in on such matters. In June 2011, the committee settled on a few recommendations: to renew monitoring of trans-fat levels in processed foods and send a “strong signal” to companies that regulations are on the table if levels don’t drop. Aglukkaq’s office confirmed this week that the recommendations have been rejected.

Sound familiar? Check out some recent examples of other solicited expert advice on food policy that has been ignored (and what other departmental commitments have been dropped):

http://o.canada.com/2012/07/20/do-you-se...-aglukkaq/