Health Canada is proposing a health warning label on ground beef products with a beef warning on the front. What does this mean and why is this a good idea? Dr. Sangeetha Sharma, a registered dietitian and nutritionist, joins us to talk about the implications of this proposed health warning.
00:00:48.600Well, and things that will be exempt from this, like, you know,
00:00:51.940your Halloween candy bars won't have this warning on them, even though they are high in sugar.
00:00:57.520So this is kind of an extension of what we already have with, you know, your information label that has,
00:01:06.580you know, there's so much of these different nutrients and it's such a percent of your daily allowances,
00:01:12.080but it's on the back and you got to go look for it.
00:01:14.900And so the attempt here is to shove some of that information on sodium, on saturated fat, and on sugar.
00:01:23.960If they're higher than a certain trigger, then whammo, this warning goes on the front.
00:01:30.000And really aiming that at, you know, we don't have a calorie deficit here in Canada.
00:01:36.720We've probably got too much being consumed, especially in highly processed foods that really are only bringing calories and a few other things.
00:01:46.320They're not bringing the nutrients that you need in a balanced diet.
00:01:50.500And we talked about it in COVID, slowing down, cooking more, and ground beef's a big part of that.
00:01:57.700Well, it goes into so many meals for us and it's a cost-effective way to consume beef.
00:02:02.360And everything's about, I mean, if you listen to any reasonable dietician, they talk about it's moderation is everything.
00:02:08.040I mean, yeah, you don't want to eat a pound of regular ground beef every day.
00:02:34.040Even here in Canada, for certain parts of the population, and iron's available in different ways from different food products.
00:02:43.640And one of the most available ways is from red meat.
00:02:47.100So that's something that gets lost in this.
00:02:50.460Whether you've got babies or mothers in their childbearing, able years, this is a real challenge.
00:03:00.140So anything that gets in the way of people being able to meet those needs, whether it's, like I said, iron, vitamin B12 is also something that we're seeing shortages of.
00:03:12.680And you can fix it easily with a Taco Tuesday or, you know, we call them dad burgers in my house.
00:03:19.200But, you know, cheeseburgers on the grill in this season are huge, simple, and kids will eat it.
00:03:26.440There's a lot of other things that are harder to get.
00:03:28.960My kids comfortable with, but those two are home runs all the time.
00:03:33.600And we need to, we need to do, not get in the way of that.
00:03:38.680And parents, I mean, they naturally want, of course, their children to be as healthy as possible.
00:03:43.420So, I mean, they can be afraid if they see labeling saying, oh, my Lord, I've been feeding my kids something dangerous.
00:03:49.660I mean, we don't want to take options.
00:03:50.760These proteins, actually, particularly single ingredient ones, non-processed stuff,
00:03:54.600with a growing family, plus with the budgetary constraints right now, ground beef is a fantastic, cost-effective way to get that to the family.
00:04:02.680And if you've got parents suddenly afraid that, oh, my Lord, have I been feeding them something bad?
00:04:06.160It puts more pressure on the family financially, it stresses them, and it's taking a perfectly healthy, safe item out of their grocery list.
00:04:14.960Healthy, simple, affordable, you know, what so many parents are looking for when your time's stretched.
00:04:21.660And if you're chasing after kids, you probably are, along with, you know, work and everything else.
00:04:26.940So, it is big, and, you know, Dr. Sangeeta Sharma out of the University of Alberta was looking at this a few years back now
00:04:34.900and just looking at, you know, urban at-risk populations, and she found that ground beef was the most affordable way
00:04:42.380to get the nutrients that are most at shortage in these at-risk populations.
00:04:49.320So, doing anything to get in the way of that is, to me, counter to helping our whole population be healthier in the future.
00:05:00.620Yeah, and from what I've been hearing in the reports, if this happens, if it's not done yet,
00:05:04.720so perhaps we can knock some common sense back into them,
00:05:07.460but Canada would be the only nation on the entire world that labels beef this way, right?
00:06:37.900You know, we're proud of what cattle bring to the environment because they turn a lot of land that you can't grow crops on into food-producing land.
00:06:47.500And that's everywhere across the country.
00:06:49.440So, from PEI to Vancouver Island, there's cattle out there grazing and renewing that land and employing people along the way.
00:06:59.420It's important in every riding, pretty much.
00:07:02.700So, that's an important part of why we're, you know, we're talking to as many people as we can to reach out to their MP, and especially if they live where a cabinet minister is, to tell them that this is not a good road to be going down.
00:07:19.260It is, there is some political need there, and like I said, that's why groups like Canadian Cattlemen, Saskatchewan Cattlemen, the National Cattle Feeders are active on this file to make sure they know just what they're doing and what's at risk.
00:07:34.200Yeah, well, and people just don't want to, you know, can't let these initiatives slide under the radar.
00:07:38.300I mean, it's incremental things that are motivated by, I don't know, perhaps an ideologically driven individual within Health Canada.
00:07:44.980And maybe if enough members of Parliament raise their heads up and say, hey, wait a minute, my constituents aren't too thrilled with this.
00:07:54.580Yeah, you know, there's all kinds of ideas that get thrown forward and don't see the light of day because, just like you said, whether it's at the MP level or at the advocacy level group,
00:08:07.280but like we bring forward that the China light on, maybe that needs to go back to the drawing board or to be done a little different because being the only beef around the world that has that and even the only single ingredient product in Canada just doesn't make sense.
00:08:26.340So we're hoping that some cooler heads can prevail and we can move on to growing and improving our competitiveness here in Canada.
00:08:35.980Yeah, I mean, you've still got a very busy time and, you know, a challenging industry to work within as it goes without having to battle your own local health regulators while you're at it.
00:08:46.580So hopefully, you know, you can get the pressure on and get them back off so you can focus more, again, on marketing and better, you know, production techniques and all the rest of the stuff your associations typically deal with.
00:12:17.700I appreciate you coming on to talk to us about that today and just, you know, to stand up for such an important industry and give us the means and the direction to point us at so that we can head this one off at the pass before this misguided initiative gets entrenched.
00:12:34.020I think there's lots of things that people hear a little bit about.
00:12:38.520And when we can have a conversation in front of a bunch of them and just shine a little more light on it, hopefully everybody's a little more informed and going forward with some more information.