November 30, 2005 – Due to the start of the federal election campaign, Health Canada is suspending public and online consultations on the new version of the Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating, whose unveiling was scheduled for May 2006.
Recently, the federal body invited citizens to share their views on the drafts of the new guide. Public meetings were planned in different regions of the country, as well as a consultation based on a questionnaire available online.
According to Health Canada spokesperson Carole Saindon, these consultations should resume at the end of the ballot, after January 23. As for the launch of the new guide, it is too early to know if it will be postponed or not.
Some of the changes and new directions that Health Canada will be submitting for consultation include:
- illustrations relating to food groups;
- the names of the food groups;
- the relevance of changing the term “portion” to “choice”;
- the length of the document, which changes from a two-sided sheet to an eight-page document;
- its adaptation to the diet of the various cultural communities present in the country.
This revision, which began almost two years ago, aims to update the Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating the most recent version of which was unveiled in 1992, 14 years ago. The very first version was produced in 1948.
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
