Food: restoring consumer confidence?

February 9, 2007- Should consumers doubt the quality of the products on their plates? Mad cow disease, bird flu and food contamination with bacteria E. coli have raised public concerns about the risks associated with certain food products.

Increasingly, governments are establishing systems for tracing food and its raw materials. At the Union des consommateurs, we are convinced that restoring consumer confidence inevitably requires the right to obtain information about the food they buy.

Good discussions on these issues are to be expected throughout the Commission on the Future of Quebec Agriculture and Agri-Food, which took off very recently. The Commission will address, inter alia, health and consumer concerns. The latter are more and more sensitive to the nutritional quality of food, one can read in a Commission document.

The mandate of the Commission
Following the public hearings, the commissioners will draw up a portrait of the issues and challenges related to the agriculture and agrifood sectors. They will also have to examine the effectiveness of the public interventions currently in place. In their recommendations, the commissioners will have to take into account several realities of the agricultural sector: competitiveness, indebtedness and regional development. The report is expected to be released in January 2008.

A question of public health

The processing and distribution of food products are now part of public health issues. Many processed foods are singled out for being high in sugar, salt or trans fat. Consumption of these products is believed to increase the rates of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Increased access to quality specialized products, such as organic foods, will require major changes in marketing and distribution networks, argues Charles Tanguay of the Union des consommateurs. The president of the Union des producteurs agricoles, Laurent Pellerin, recently wrote that the agricultural environment remains precarious in Quebec, but that conventional agriculture will always have its place in relation to specialized productions, such as organic farming.

By June 2007, the Commission on the Future of Quebec Agriculture and Agri-Food¹ will visit 26 municipalities in 15 different regions of Quebec. The probable call of provincial elections at the end of winter could, however, delay the work of the Commission.

Marie France Coutu – PasseportSanté.net
Version modified on February 13, 2007

1. To find out more about the Commission, visit www.caaaq.gouv.qc.ca [consulté le 9 février 2007]